The Dark Side of the Sun: Love That Intoxicates
by AnnaRavenheart
Summary: First story in 'The Dark Side of the Sun' series. Tom Riddle and Maia Black. Orphan and the rich girl. Two different worlds. Two different persons. Two different hearts, but only one destiny. One mutual goal. Immortality. Dominance. Would their similarities bring them together or would their differences break them apart? Are their hearts equally black? Is their love poison or cure?
1. We Are Different

_**The Dark Side of the Sun**_

_**First Part – Love That Intoxicates**_

_Poison is slowly seeping through my veins  
__Stealing the only dignity in me_

* * *

**Story details: **First story in 'The Dark Side of the Sun' series. Tom Riddle and Maia Black. Orphan and the rich girl. Two different worlds. Two different persons. Two different hearts, but only one destiny. One mutual goal. Immortality. Dominance. Would their similarities bring them together or would their differences break them apart? Are their hearts equally black? Is their love poison or cure?

* * *

**Genres: **Romance/Angst

* * *

**Rating M: **Sex scenes, violence, murders, mental disorders, abuse of magic for purpose of controlling, torturing and killing.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter and the majority of characters in this story.

* * *

_**We Are Different**_

**London, 31th December, 1926**

It was New Year's Eve and a snowstorm devastated the city, covering everything with a cold white blanket. The streets of London were empty. Everyone went to their warm, cozy homes to celebrate the beginning of a New Year with their friends and family. Just one girl was roaming the streets, alone.

She was very young, approximately 19 years old, but something was strange about her. Her ghostly pale face was drained; her old gray clothes tattered. Her stomach was big and swollen; she was heavily pregnant. Breathing hard, her face was distorted with pain.

* * *

The clock struck seven. Arcturus Black walked nervously around the room. His daughters, Charis and Callidora watched their dad silently, just occasionally glancing towards each other. The only thing that disturbed the silence was the agonizing screaming. His wife was about to birth. He was anxious; after the three daughters, he was craving a son, someone who would be his true heir. It was his longtime wish; a son who would become a great wizard, a son who would make the Black family proud. As time passed, he was getting more and more nervous. All of a sudden, a loud baby cry replaced the terrific screams, and he stopped walking; his eyes widened in anxious expectation. A fat old woman, a healer, dressed in lemon yellow robes entered into the living room; a huge smile spread across her face.

"Is it a son? Please, just don't tell me that it is a daughter, again," Arcturus asked in a fevered voice. He grabbed the back of a chair, he felt like he would fall.

"It is a daughter, Mister Black," she said in a warm voice. "But don't feel disappointed. The child is healthy and beautiful, you should be happy," she added in a slightly rebuking voice.

"Yeah, you are right," Arcturus replied absent-mindedly despite he didn't agree with her words, not completely.

He staggered to his bedroom, ignoring the healer's sharp gaze. His wife was lying on a bed, observing the child which resembled a small bundle in her hands with a smile. When she heard the sound of Arcturus' footsteps, she raised her head; despite her forehead was beaded with sweat, her light blue eyes shone happily.

"Look at her, isn't she adorable?" she whispered softly, her smile expressing the love she already felt towards the small creature.

Arcturus stepped closer to the king-sized bed, his eyes looking at the baby curiously. His wife gave him the baby, which was rolled in the light blue towel. The baby reminded him of a small scrolling. He then looked at her closely. She had hair of a strange color, some strange shade of golden fire. Her clear, cool gray eyes watched him innocently. He smiled and caressed her reddish hair. There seemed to be something unusual in this baby and he wasn't sad because he didn't get a son and an heir. Not anymore.

* * *

A young brunette sat near the window and watched how the wind played with big snowflakes. A small tear rolled down her cheek. She was recently married, but she couldn't spend this eve with her husband, she needed to work. She was underpaid in this small orphanage and they were poor, they barely had enough money to cover their expenses. This would be the first New Year, which they would celebrate together. A sharp, high voice of her colleague snatched her from her thoughts.

"Mrs. Cole. Hurry, we have an urgent case."

She rose from her seat and run down in the corridor. One very young woman sat on the floor, while her colleague tried to help her rise. She had lank lifeless hair, a heavy face and eyes which starred in different directions. Mrs. Cole could barely look at her.

"Help me… please," she said between screams. She covered her big stomach with both of her hands, like she was trying to protect her baby from something.

Mrs. Cole with the help of her colleague, managed to lift the girl from the ground and to carry her to one of the beds. The parturition was hard, it lasted for two hours, and the girl was in terrible shape. Then, at last she gave a birth to a boy. Mrs. Cole and the other girl examined the baby carefully; they thought that something is wrong with him. He didn't cry like other babies.

"Is he alive?" the young girl asked weakly, sweat covering her face. Mrs. Cole knew that she wouldn't survive this.

"Yes, he is," she said gently and caressed the hair of the poor tormented girl.

"I beg you to take good care of him", she replied to Mrs. Cole, looking at her with teary eyes.

"Name him Tom, after his father. And Marvolo, after," she lost her voice, "after my father."

"Don't speak like that. You will live. You need to, for the sake of your son." Mrs. Cole tried to comfort her.

The girl shook her head lightly. "No, I won't. I can't. And his last name is Riddle." She then turned her head toward her son. "Tom Marvolo Riddle", she whispered silently and smiled, but that smile was painful. Mrs. Cole cried and took the boy to show him to his mother. The girl looked at her son for the first and last time.

"I just hope that he will be as beautiful as his father", she raised her hand to touch him, but she didn't have the strength. Her eyes closed, and her lifeless hand fell on the sheets. She breathed no more.

Mrs. Cole then looked at the boy who slept peacefully, and then looked through the window. She knew that his life, the life of an orphan, would be grim and heavy. Just like this weather, like big clouds that covered the sky and the moon. The bolt struck and everything went bright for a moment. The old clock struck twelve. Everything was dark again.

* * *

_**Eleven years later**_

A young girl sat in the comfortable sofa, a big book in her lap. Her long wavy fiery hair fell over the book, covering some sentences. She removed it with a jumpy hiss. She was reading so fast, that her crystal gray eyes seemed foggy.

"Maia Ursula Black, get down here immediately", a female voice yelled.

Maia raised her head from the book and waved it slightly.

"I'm coming, Mother," she replied in a slightly uninterested voice.

She rose from her seat and tossed a book to the other side of the room. She hated when someone disturbed her while she was reading. She then marched out of the room, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What do you need?" she stubbornly asked the middle-aged woman who sat at the huge mahogany table.

"It's time for lunch dear, and your father will arrive soon. You can't spend the whole day upstairs reading."

Maia laughed with a musical laugh, "I need to, Mother. I must prepare for school. You don't want me to be an ignorant person, believe me."

Her mother responded with a smile. After all, Maia wouldn't be going to an ordinary school. She will be going to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was a witch from the old and respected, the noble and most ancient house of Black. She was not a simple useless Muggle. She was a Pureblood and proud of it. Toujours Pur. That's what her family motto said. Always pure.

"You don't need to learn it all now. Leave something for school," her mother said.

The kitchen door opened and a tall black haired man with a small beard entered the room.

"Don't criticize her, wife. We should be happy we have such a smart daughter," he said with a smile and he hugged Maia. He caressed her golden-red hair, "Now tell your father, princess; what will you become one day?"

Her lips curved into a soft proud smile,"The greatest sorceress in the world."

He laughed. He knew that his daughter would be great. Maia laughed too, it was her dream, and she needed to fulfill it.

* * *

"Let me go! I didn't do anything, I swear! I told you a hundred times!" young boy yelled in a commanding voice while a grumpy woman dragged him into her office.

Mrs. Cole's eyes glowed with fury, "I'm sick and tired of your justifications, Tom. Whenever you come, something bad happens and your only explanation is I didn't do it."

"But I didn't. I didn't hang the rabbit of that stupid bully," he replied stubbornly, his eyes blazing with hate.

"You are a liar and you know it. First this, then your silly story about speaking with snakes. Now Amy and Denis. What did you do to them?" She was now shaking him.

"I did nothing. We were just exploring that cave. Nothing else," he continued justifying himself, but he knew very well that this was a lie. He was different. Different from the rest of the orphans. He was sure he was.

* * *

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Hush, let me sleep, ruthless one," Maia murmured half-awake.

But her older sister, Charis was persistent. She started shaking her. "Come on, you need to see something. Hurry."

"Leave me be," Maia replied harshly. She then covered her head with a pillow.

"Okay, if you don't want to see your letter from Hogwarts, it doesn't not matter," Charis said, emphasizing the word Hogwarts.

Maia opened her eyes, tossed the pillow and raised her head. "Did you say Hogwarts, or did I mishear it?"

Charis chuckled. "Yes, I did. Your letter arrived."

Maia jumped out of bed. She covered her mouth with her palms, almost wanting to scream from the excitement, and pressed her hand to her chest, her eyes glowing happily. "Are you serious, Charis?"

She nodded and Maia quickly ran out of the bedroom. Charis followed her. Her parents and her second sister, Callidora were already in the living room.

Her father spread his arms and smiled widely. Maia hurried to embrace him. "My little princess, you were anxiously waiting for this day, here take the letter." He took the letter from his pocket and gave it to her.

She grabbed it and observed words on the surface, which were written in a gaudy manuscript.

_Miss __Maia__ Ursula Black_

_London, Grimmauld Street 12_

She then opened it, and started reading it aloud, her eyes glowing with wild happiness.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ARMANDO DIPPET

Dear Miss Black,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find all necessary books and equipment from the list enclosed.

The term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Deputy Headmaster

With each word, her excitement grew. She wasn't excited because of the books, she had already persuaded her father to buy them. She was happy because today was the day she would get her own wand, finally. She was jealous of her father, mother, and sisters because they had one and she was wandless. Well until now, she thought with a smirk. She desired it greatly. A wand, powerful and able to do the most complicated and flamboyant spells. She would put it to great use, she thought. Not like her two sisters, which were both healers. Not even like her third sister, who was dead to the entire family for marrying a blood-traitor and now was jobless. She frowned at the thought. Simple payment and a simple career; who would like to do something so boring and simple? She smirked again. She will have a greater fate. She then glanced at the tapestry, which represented her family, which will soon be very proud of her, she thought contentedly. Because she will become even greater, even more famous than her most famous ancestor, Phineas Nigelus Black. She vowed to herself.

* * *

Tom was sitting on top of the gray blankets, his legs stretched out in front of him, as he held a book. A knock on the door disturbed him. He raised his head and saw Mrs. Cole. What did she want again? He despised her from the bottom of his heart.

"Tom? You've got a visitor. This is Mr. Dumberton — sorry, Dunderbore. He's come to tell you that — well, I'll let him do it." She sounded like she was drunk, again.

An unknown man entered into the room. Tom's eyes narrowed slightly as he observed his eccentric appearance. He wore an unusual flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet.

"How do you do, Tom?" said the man in a friendly voice, walking forward and holding out his hand.

Tom hesitated a bit, like his hand was a striking snake, and then took it. The man drew up the hard wooden chair beside Tom and sat down, obviously not in a rush to explain the cause of his visit. He observed the room for a while, his eyes glowing curiously. It was a gray, dull place with nothing in it except a sturdy chair, an old wooden wardrobe, and an iron bedstead.

"I am Professor Dumbledore."

"'Professor'?" Tom repeated warily. He had never been a person willing to trust someone. "Is that like 'doctor'? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?" he asked, his voice gaining the cold note.

"No, no," said Dumbledore, smiling to him softly.

"I don't believe you," said Tom. "She wants me looked at doesn't she? Tell me the truth!"

He spoke the last words with such hostility and force that it was shocking. According to his way of pronouncing them he was used to give orders, despite his young age. His eyes had widened and he was glaring at Dumbledore, who remained silent, but continued to smile pleasantly. After a few seconds he stopped glaring, though he looked even more wary now.

"Who are you?" Tom insisted to know.

"I have told you. My name is Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I have come to offer you a place at my school — your new school, if you would like to come."

Tom jumped up from the bed and backed away from Dumbledore, a look of furry plastered on his face. It seemed like Dumbledore was surprised. He didn't expect that kind of reaction.

"You can't fool me! The asylum, that's where you're from, isn't it? 'Professor,' yes, of cours. Well, I'm not going, see? That old goat is the one who should be in the asylum. I never did anything to little Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop, and you can ask them, they'll tell you!

"I am not from the asylum," Dumbledore said in a calm voice "I am a teacher and, if you will sit down calmly, I shall tell you about Hogwarts. Of course, if you would rather not come to the school, nobody will force you..."

"I'd like to see them try," Tom scoffed. Despite he was a child, he already believed that he was superior, more important and stronger than the others.

"Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued, pretending that he had not heard Tom's last words. "Is a school for people with special abilities..."

"I'm not mad!" Tom exclaimed, his voice similar to threatening hissing.

"I know that you are not mad. Hogwarts is not a school for mad people. It is a school of magic."

Tom had frozen. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were flickering back and forth between each of Dumbledore's, as though trying to catch one of them lying. After all, Dumbledore's words sounded more like a lie than like a fact.

"Magic?" he repeated in a whisper.

"That's right," Dumbledore stated.

"It's . . . It's magic, what I can do?"

"What is it that you can do?"

"A lot of things," breathed Tom. A flush of excitement was rising up his neck into his hollow cheeks; he looked fevered. "I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to."

His legs were trembling. He stumbled forward and sat down on the bed again, staring at his hands, his head bowed as though in prayer.

"I knew I was different," he whispered to his own quivering fingers. "I knew I was special. Always, I knew there was something."

"Well, you were quite right," said Dumbledore, who was no longer smiling, but was watching Tom attentively. "You are a wizard."

Tom lifted his head. His face changed; there was a wild happiness upon it, yet for some reason it did not make him better looking, on the contrary. His finely carved features seemed somehow rough, his expression almost bestial.

"Are you a wizard too?"

"Yes, I am."

"Prove it," said Tom at once, in the same commanding tone.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "If, as I take it, you are accepting your place at Hogwarts—"

"Of course I do!"

"Then you will address me as 'Professor' or 'sir'. "

His expression hardened for the most fleeting moment before he said, in an unrecognizably polite voice, "I'm sorry, sir. I meant please, Professor, could you show me?"

Tom still thought that this man was a faker and that he will deny his request.

To his great surprise however, Dumbledore drew his wand from an inside pocket of his suit jacket, pointed it at the shabby wardrobe in the corner, and gave the wand a casual flick.

The wardrobe burst into flames.

Tom jumped to his feet and howled in shock and rage; all his possessions were in there. But as Tom rounded on Dumbledore, the flames vanished, leaving the wardrobe completely undamaged.

Tom stared from the wardrobe to Dumbledore; then his expression turned greedy. He pointed at the wand. "Where can I get one of them?"

"All in good time," said Dumbledore. "I think there is something trying to get out of your wardrobe."

And sure enough, a faint rattling could be heard from inside it. For the first time, Tom looked frightened.

"Open the door," said Dumbledore.

Tom hesitated, then crossed the room and threw open the wardrobe door. On the topmost shelf above a rail of threadbare clothes, a small cardboard box was shaking and rattling as though there were several frantic mice trapped inside it.

"Take it out," said Dumbledore.

Riddle took down the shuddering box. He looked unnerved.

"Is there anything in that box that you ought not to have?" asked Dumbledore.

Tom threw Dumbledore a long, clear, calculating look. "Yes, I suppose so, sir," he said finally, in an inexpressive voice.

"Open it."

Tom took off the lid and tipped the contents onto his bed without looking at them. They were ordinary Muggle objects: a yo-yo, a silver thimble, and a tarnished mouth organ among them. Once free of the box, they stopped quivering and lay quite still upon the thin bedspreads.

"You will return them to their owners with your apologies," said Dumbledore calmly, putting his wand back into his jacket. "I shall know whether it has been done. And be warned, thieving is not tolerated at Hogwarts."

Tom did not look even vaguely ashamed; he was still staring coldly at Dumbledore. At last he said in a colorless voice, "Yes, sir."

"At Hogwarts," Dumbledore went on, "we teach you not only to use magic, but to control it. You have, inadvertently, I am sure, been using your powers in a way that is neither taught nor tolerated at our school. You are not the first, nor will you be the last, to allow your magic to run away with you. But you should know that Hogwarts can expel students, and the Ministry of Magic — yes, there is a Ministry — will punish lawbreakers still more severely. All new wizards must accept that, in entering our world, they abide by our laws."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

His face remained quite blank as he put the little cache of stolen objects back into the cardboard box. He was mad at Dumbledore, but he didn't show it. When he had finished, he turned to Dumbledore and said, "I haven't got any money."

"That is easily remedied," said Dumbledore, drawing a leather money pouch from his pocket. "There is a fund at Hogwarts for those who require assistance to buy books and robes. You might have to buy some of your spell books and so on second hand, but—"

"Where do you buy spell books?" interrupted Tom, who had taken the heavy moneybag without thanking Dumbledore, and was now examining a fat gold coin. "What kind of money is this?"

"This gold coin is called Galleon, those silver ones are Sickles and bronze ones are called Knuts. This is the money we use in the Wizarding World. One Sickle is worth 29 Knuts, and one Galleon is worth 17 Sickles," Dumbledore said. "You will buy your books in Diagon Alley. I have a list of books and school equipment with me. I can help you find everything —"

"You're coming with me?" asked Tom.

"Certainly, if you —"

"I don't need you," Tom said. He really didn't want to be supervised by this man. "I'm used to doing things for myself; I go round London on my own all the time. How do you get to this Diagon Alley, sir?" he added, catching Dumbledore's eye.

He thought that Dumbledore would insist upon accompanying him, but once again he was surprised. Dumbledore handed Tom the envelope containing his list of equipment, and after telling Riddle exactly how to get to the Leaky Cauldron from the orphanage, he said, "You will be able to see it, although Muggles around you — non-magical people, that is — will not. Ask for Tom the barman — easy enough to remember, as he shares your name."

Riddle gave an irritable shudder, as though trying to move an irksome fly.

"You dislike the name 'Tom'?" Dumbledore asked.

"There are a lot of Toms," he mumbled. He hated being ordinary, and his name was exactly that. Then, as though he could not suppress the question, as though it burst from him in spite of himself he asked, "Was my father a wizard? He was called Tom Riddle too, they've told me."

"I'm afraid I don't know." said Dumbledore, his voice gentle.

"My mother can't have been magic, or she wouldn't have died," he said, more to himself than Dumbledore. "It must've been him. So when I've got all my stuff, when do I come to this Hogwarts?"

"All the details are on the second piece of parchment in your envelope," said Dumbledore. "You will leave from King's Cross Station on the first of September. There is a train ticket in there too."

Tom nodded. Dumbledore got to his feet and held out his hand again. Taking it, Tom said, "I can speak to snakes. I found out when we took a trip to the country. They find me, they whisper to me. Is that normal for a wizard?"

He had withheld mention of this strangest power until that moment, determined to astonish.

"It is extraordinary," said Dumbledore, after a moment's hesitation, "But not unheard of."

His tone was casual but his eyes moved curiously over Tom's face. They stood for a moment, man and boy, staring at each other. Then the handshake was broken; Dumbledore was at the door.

"Good-bye, Tom. I shall see you at Hogwarts," with that he left.

He sat down on the bed and opened the letter. His name was written on it. After he read it, he paid attention to train ticket.

"Platform Nine and three-quarters!" he read, annoyed a bit. _'__There is no such thing. I wonder if that old man fooled me,__'_ he thought suspiciously but he quickly chased away the unpleasant thought. He demonstrated him that he was different from the others. Just as he was different from the rest of the stupid orphans here. _'Special,'_ he thought and smiled loudly, with a cold-pitched laugh.

* * *

The very next day, Tom decided to look for The Leaky Cauldron. Luckily for him, Mrs. Cole allowed him to go out when he said that he needed to buy some things for his new school. She congratulated him and wished him luck. "You sick hypocrite," he mumbled to himself when he left her office. She couldn't wait to see his back; he knew it very well, despite her fake affability.

But she didn't succeed to ruin his good mood. He was anxious to see what this Wizarding World looks like.

'_It must look better than that awful, depressive, old orphanage,'_ he thought dismally.

It didn't take him long to find the place, despite it was far away from the orphanage. As he already said to Dumbledore, he was used to wander around the London alone. He was just irritated when he needed to go to the Underground Train Station. He hated such bustle, and the primitive people who regularly pushed each other just to get a better seat. After two hours he arrived at the place. He immediately noticed it. It was placed between a huge book shop and cheap restaurant. It didn't seem like a magnificent place. It disenchanted him a bit. When he entered it he noticed that it was untidy and crowded. A couple of old women were sitting in the corner. They were strangely dressed. One of them smoked a pipe which smelled unpleasant. One wizard was reading some strange newspapers. Tom would swear that one picture from newspaper moved. He shook his head. It's not possible.

"Looking for something, boy?"

He turned his head to see who spoke to him. It was a hunchbacked man, with half of his teeth missing.

"I'm looking for a bartender named Tom. Dumbledore sent me," he replied.

"Oh, I'm Tom! Dumbledore told me that you would come. We have same name", he added with a smile.

Tom frowned, disgusted. Of all the people, this abomination is called exactly like him. He hated his common name more than ever.

"I know your case, grows up in a Muggle orphanage. It must be hard living without parents. I remember, when I… "

"Can you just tell me how to get to Diagon Alley?" Tom asked lazily. He wasn't interested in his speech.

"Of course I can, dear boy. Follow me."

Bartender then led him through the bar, and into a small walled courtyard that was empty.

"This is the gateway to Diagon Alley"

"This?" Tom repeated distrustfully. "This is just a wall."

"Of course, this. Just watch", he replied.

The bartender pulled out his wand, which was crooked like his back and started counting bricks.

"Ah this one", he said then he tapped the brick with the wand. Tom was examining and memorizing every movement. All of a sudden, at his great surprise, the touched brick started to quiver and twist, and in the middle a hole appeared which got bigger and bigger, and in a couple of seconds a whole wall turned into an archway which lead to the long wavy street. Tom watched with admiration. It really was true. He stepped through the archway, and when he turned back he saw that the archway closed and became a solid wall again.

As much as he was surprised when he saw how the bricks turned into a passage, it was nothing compared to his surprise when he saw Diagon Alley for the first time. It was an enormously big street, full of witches and wizards. Some were children, some grownups. It was also full of shops that sold weird things. He turned his head in all directions, so that he can look at everything. The nearest shop was selling cauldrons from various materials; brass, copper, silver. One had a note attached to it, "Self-Stirring". There was one that seemed to be made of pure gold. He looked at it with greedy expression, but he knew that he couldn't afford it at this moment. He continued strolling and glancing around. He noticed a shop that actually sold flying brooms, but he didn't find it especially interesting. There was a shop that sold various rare pets, including toads, bats, owls etc. He wondered if they were selling snakes. He loved them. He couldn't stand other animals, especially cats that left hairy fur-balls everywhere; it made him cough and sneeze. He then noticed a big bookstore called Flourish and Blotts. He was tempted to go in, he always loved books and those had really interesting titles. "The most wicked curses and jinxes", he read the title of one that was on the display and sneered. He would love to try some of these on those annoying brats from his orphanage.

He looked at the list of things he needed for school. He needed books and cauldron, various ingredients etc. But he decided to get them later. He wanted to get his wand first. Since he saw Dumbledore's wand he couldn't stop thinking about it. He imagined himself with it, performing even better spells than that old donkey. He grinned as he kept walking. Soon another building captured his attention. It was magnificent, simply breathtaking. It towered over other shops; its marble columns were whiter than snow. Two strange creatures stood in front of the massive bronze door. Some strange letter-like symbols were carved in it. Tom didn't know what that building was, but he liked it, a lot.

He stopped one elderly woman who carried a huge basket with some strange eggs inside.

"Excuse me, madam." He smiled at her. He knew how to gain the affection of older people. It was easy; he just needed to be polite. "Could you tell me what is this?" He pointed towards the luxurious building. "I never was here before, so I don't know." He added, so the woman won't think that he was stupid.

"That's Gringotts. A Wizarding Bank, dear boy."

Tom frowned sadly. He doesn't have enough gold. For now, he doesn't have anything to do there.

"Could you tell me which shops sell wands here?"

"Oh, just one. It would be Ollivanders. He is the best wand maker in all of Britain." She pointed at the shop not to far from Gringotts. "There it is."

Tom walked away without even saying thanks and headed right towards wand shop.

* * *

Arcturus Black and his daughter Maia entered the Leaky Cauldron. Maia frowned. She disliked the place; it looked like a barn to her.

"Good afternoon, Mister Black, can I get you anything to drink?" Bartender smiled. Maia looked at him with a strange expression, like something stinky was placed in front of her nose.

"Later Tom." Arcturus just waved his hand at him as he went to the courtyard.

"I think they should get a new bartender. He is so disgusting with that hunch and without half his teeth. When he smiles his tongue looks like it's in a jail," Maia said as they entered the Diagon Alley.

Her father smiled. "You are right dear. But you shouldn't think bad of people just because they are ugly." He laughed even louder when he saw how she shook her red head with disapproval.

"I can't change your opinion, you are so stubborn."

"I inherited that from you, father," she replied with a smile then she threw a look at the pet shop.

"Don't you want a pet like other children, dear. An owl or a nice cat?" he asked.

"You know I don't. But maybe I want a different pet," she said, emphasizing the word "different".

"No way, little Miss." He smiled. "Your astuteness won't help you." He then looked at her seriously. "You know that you can't have a snake dear. We don't know if the students are allowed to keep that kind of pet. I will buy you an owl."

Maia nodded and looked at him with sad silvery eyes.

"But, if the Head of yours House allows you I will buy you one for your birthday," he added. He couldn't say "no" to his favorite daughter. He spoiled her a lot.

She smiled and looked at him happily.

They stopped in front of Ollivander's shop. A couple of wands lay on the display.

"Okay dear. You go get your wand while I finish some errands with Gringotts' Goblins," he said, kissed her head and left.

"Hello, my dear. How can I help you?" a tiny voice asked. She turned her head and saw a middle aged slim man whose eyes were similar to hers, just a bit lighter.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Ollivander. I came for a wand. I will be going to Hogwarts soon." She said enthusiastically.

"Hmm, let's see which wand is good for you then," he said and pulled a silver measure tape. "You seem familiar to me. May I know which your wand hand is?" He asked while he took various boxes.

She sat on the chair while the silver tape started measuring her on its own. "You saw me before. I'm the daughter of Arcturus Black. Right hand," she said while observing the tape.

"I remember your father and sisters. His wand was fine, apple and unicorn hair."

He handed her one wand that was pretty short. "Larch and a phoenix feather. Just wave it a bit."

Maia took it and frowned, disappointed.

"Maybe this one. Oak and a dragon heartstring, 12 inches, sturdy."

She waved, nothing happened again.

"Elder and unicorn hair, 11 inches, pliable." He pulled another one.

She swished with it and a vase on the counter exploded.

"Definitely not that one," he said, quickly taking the wand from her hand before something else explodes.

He kept bringing her other wands, she kept swishing and waving, but none of them was appropriate. Ollivander seemed very amused. Maia was getting angry. She tried almost all the wands from his shop.

"Let's try this one," he said, looking at her seriously." Ebony and Dragon Heartstring 12 and half inches, moderately supple. Core in it came from a very nasty dragon. This wand is powerful, but is a bit dangerous and tricky," he said, handing her the black wand.

Maia took it. She swished expecting another failure but the wand seemed to fit nicely in her hand, and started producing silver and golden sparkles.

Ollivander clapped. "Great, this is the right one. I will pack it for you."

Maia smiled loudly. She looked at the wand before she handed it back to Ollivander. It was long, slim, and a shiny black with a nice silvery handle. She really liked it.

* * *

When Tom entered the shop he noticed that it was not empty. A tall girl, approximately his age, with long red wavy hair, dressed in knee-length mauve dress turned her head towards him when he entered the shop. Her piercing silver eyes reminded him of some kind of predator bird, maybe a falcon. Judging by her looks, she was rich and she looked arrogant. There was something about her that made him feel unpleasant, maybe her snicker when she looked at him.

A light-eyed man approached him and said happily, "Oh, another customer, sit here please." He hurried Tom to sit on an old sturdy chair and sent the tape to him with the wave of his wand. Tom was surprised when he noticed that tape measured on its own. It was weird.

"What's your wand hand?"

"I don't understand," Tom said and red haired girl snickered again. She was starting to get on his nerves.

"Which hand do you use for writing?" Ollivander changed his question.

"Left one," Tom replied.

"Right, I will bring you some wands. And I will pack yours Miss Black." He then left the room.

"Are you a Muggle-born?" Tom heard soft, slightly bored voice. This girl spoke to him.

"What?"

"You don't know what Muggles are?" she asked with a smile that really irritated him.

"I know. Non-magical people. I just don't know why it interests you," he replied harshly.

"Because there is nothing worse than Muggles and Muggle-borns. I suppose you are a Muggle-born, because Ollivander's question confused you. A wand hand." She sneered.

He nodded. He shared her opinion that non-magical people are good for nothing, like those idiots from the orphanage.

"My father was a wizard, I'm sure," he said to himself.

"Was?" she asked curiously.

"I don't have parents. I never knew them. I grew up in an orphanage. My mother is dead, and I don't know anything about my father just that we share the same name."

Maia bit her lip. She wished she could draw back her words. She was feeling guilty because she asked him about his parents. "Oh, I'm really sorry. I didn't know. Must be really hard for you," she said honestly.

Tom remained silent.

"What is your name?"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle. Yours?"

She repeated the name slowly, like she tasted the words. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. Your surname is really interesting. And I think I have heard the name Marvolo before but I can't remember where. My name is Maia Ursula Black." She offered him her hand. She wouldn't offer her hand to someone who may be a Mudblood but she felt sorry for him.

He took her hand and shook it lightly. "Marvolo was the name of my grandfather, at least that's what my mother said before she died. Tom Riddle is the name of my father."

Maia noticed how he frowned when he said Tom. "You have a problem with your name?"

"I dislike it because it is really common."

Maia opened her mouth to say something, but Ollivander returned.

"Here is your wand dear." He handed her the box, she paid him and then she turned to Tom "It was nice to meet you. See you in Hogwarts."

He just replied, "See you". After that she left the store. He was glad she did. She was curious and he had the feeling that he told her too much about himself. After all, none of it was her business.

The tape finished measuring and returned to Ollivander. "Take this one and give it a wave. Unicorn hair and cypress, 13 inches."

Tom took the wand and waved. It felt strange.

"No. Hawthorn and a Phoenix feather."

Tom tried it. It sparkled a bit but Olivander was not satisfied.

"Maybe Chestnut and a Dragon Heartstring?"

Nothing, he tried a couple more wands.

"What is this? I have really tricky customers today," he said and pulled another box. "Yew. 13 and half inches, reasonably springy. Its core is a Phoenix feather from a particularly nice Phoenix. Powerful one. Try it."

Tom swished and to his great surprise it produced a beam of silver and green light. Ollivander clapped.

"This is the right one. Excellent!"

Tom rose from the chair and looked at the wand. He already felt that he and this wand were like the same thing.

"It is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the other way around." Ollivander smiled, like he read his thoughts.

Tom grinned. He felt a wave of wild happiness spread through his veins.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm re-posting the story, as promised. I hope that the next chapters will be over soon, so I can continue with writing it. Thanks to Cookies-and-Ink for beta-ing this chapter.


	2. The Hogwarts Express

_**The Hogwarts Express**_

"Maia, hurry. We need to go now, or else we will be late."

Maia ignored her mother for a moment, arranging her school robes in the mirror and how her hair styled in loose golden ringlets fell across her shoulders. Happy with her appearance she took the cage in which her new gray long-eared owl, Athene, was sleeping. Although it wasn't the pet that she wanted, she was starting to like it.

In the living room her parents and sisters were waiting for her.

"What took you so long? I thought that you decided not to go?" her sister Charis mocked her.

Maia rolled her eyes. Her older sisters used to make jokes at her, and this was really pissing her off.

"Let's go honey," her father said, carrying her large suitcase while the house-elf carried another one, even larger, with a frown upon her face.

"What did you pack inside? Rocks? It's so heavy!"

"Nothing, father, just some clothes and a couple of books," she replied innocently.

"Knowing you, you must have packed two full wardrobes and half of a library," her mother smiled.

Maia glanced at her. Her mother's eyes were glistening with tears. Maia knew that her mother would miss her a lot; despite the fact that she reproached her sometimes.

Her father loaded the heavy trunk in their car. It looked like a normal Cadillac except it was magically enlarged inside.

They arrived at the station at 10:30. Muggles were looking at them curiously, intrigued with their robes and owl.

"It's always crowded with those filthy Muggles," Maia frowned.

"Right you are, they are getting more numerous each year." Her father said as they stopped in between platforms nine and ten. "Okay, who is going first?" he asked.

"Please, father, allow me to go first," Maia said eagerly. He nodded.

She started running towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. When she approached it, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw a huge scarlet train, and lots of wizards walking around. Her family followed her. It was noisy here, old witches' chattered, small children screamed, and a lot of owls were flapping with their wings, disturbed by the noise.

"I will go to find you a seat, dear," her father said and climbed on the train. Her mother hugged her, crying. "I will miss you a lot, promise me that you will be good and that you will write me often."

"Oh, I will. I promise," she said, amused by her mother's reaction. After all, she was going to school, not somewhere far from home. Maia couldn't stand crying; it was much too pathetic for her liking.

"Yeah, and told us in which house you got sorted. I think that it will be Hufflepuff," her sister Callidora said, knowing that Maia hated Hufflepuff.

"Of course I will go there. You know how stupid I am," Maia replied sarcastically. She couldn't wait to go to school, mainly to get rid of her sisters that treated her like a baby.

She just hugged them lightly and climbed on the train. Her father was waiting for her.

"I found you an empty compartment near the end of the train."

She nodded. Her father then hugged her. "I know you will make me proud. I expect nothing but the best from you, my princess. Remember my advice. Don't start any quarrel before you learn a couple of good spells," he smiled.

She hugged him strongly. She was going to miss him more than the rest of her family. "I love you, father," she said.

"Love you too," he replied, kissed her cheek and left the rain. She went to her compartment and leaned through the window. A whistle sounded and the train began to move. She waved at her family until they disappeared from sight. She threw herself on the seat and rested her head on the chilly window.

* * *

Tom rose early that morning. He couldn't wait to go to Kings Cross. He double-checked his suitcase in case he forgot something. He didn't have a lot of stuff. He bought second-hand books and robes in order to save some later. He was happy to leave that old, depressive orphanage and those dirty brats. They got curious when they heard that he was going to a new school. The worst thing was that he had to return those stolen things to them with an apology. But, he couldn't risk that Dumbledore finds out that he kept them. He should pay attention to his behavior. When he went to say goodbye to Mrs. Cole she almost cried from happiness, because he was leaving… finally. He was happy to get rid of her too.

It took him some time to arrive at Kings Cross station. It was on the other side of London. When he arrived he pulled out his ticket and read it again, Platform nine and three quarters. He looked around a bit, and then he realized that there was no such platform. He smacked the suitcase with his leg; plagued by rage. That fool tricked him, he was sure. He accidentally leaned on barrier between platforms nine and ten. He was surprised that he didn't feel a wall and he almost fell on his back. He then looked around in amazement.

A huge scarlet locomotive was waiting next to a platform crowded with wizards and witches. Stream from the engine spread through the air. He took his suitcase and glanced behind. On a large archway, which stood at the place in which the barrier had been, was written Platform Nine and Three Quarters. He made his way through the throng and climbed on the train. He barely succeeded to lift his suitcase up the high stairs. As he went to find an empty compartment, the whistle sounded and the train moved.

He started looking around. It seemed that all of them were full. Older students occupied one compartment, one with first year girls that were reading some Muggle magazines. He sighed, guessing that he will have to stay on his feet whole time of the ride. He then went to check the compartments near the end of the train. One seemed to be empty and he opened it. He was surprised to see that revolting redheaded girl who he met at Ollivanders. It seemed that she hadn't noticed him. She watched through the window.

"Of all the rotten luck. I have to travel with this girl," he mumbled quietly to himself and entered the compartment. He tucked away his suitcase in the corner. The girl noticed him now and turned her heads towards him.

"Oh, it's you," she smiled. "Your name is Tom, right?"

He nodded. He didn't want to start a conversation with the curious one. He noticed that she was eyeing his robes, probably wondering why they were second-hand. _'__She got a new one,__'_ he thought enviously.

"We are going to Hogwarts, finally," she said elatedly.

He couldn't help but smile. He knew that his new life at this school would be far better than the life at the orphanage.

"Hogwarts is a really magnificent place. I can't wait to see it," she said.

Tom replied, "I know I have read about it." He already read all of his schoolbooks.

Maia smiled again. "It seems that I'm not the only one that cared to read something before school started. My sisters said that was lunacy."

"How does it feel to have siblings?" Without his will, the question slipped from his mouth. He was curious.

She laughed. "Believe me, it is not anything special. My sisters are older than me and they always mock me. They treat me like a doll. I'm not too fond of them."

She then told him how they pulled pranks on her, how they charmed her sheets to entangle her in her sleep, how they always talked about their wands and the spells they can do in front of her, just to make her jealous...

When he heard that he was glad that he doesn't have any siblings. If someone did that to him, he would make sure that they are going to regret that. He grinned at the thought.

"Did you notice that you had magic, before you got a letter?" she asked him again.

"Yes, I just didn't know that things I can do are called magic."

"What can you do?"

Tom frowned slightly. She really was tiresome with her questions.

"For example I can make things move without touching them."

She raised her dark eyebrows. They really made a contrast with her hair. "That's impossible without a wand. You are not an experienced wizard," she replied, completely sure in her words.

He looked at his suitcase that was in the corner. He continued looking at it. After a couple of seconds it started moving towards him and then he returned it to its place.

Maia widened her eyes in admiration. "That's absolutely astonishing! I wish I could do that."

Tom grinned, flattered by her amazement. Even in the Wizarding World he could do something that others couldn't.

Someone knocked at the doors of the compartment. Pale boy, with platinum blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail and light blue eyes slid the door and entered.

"Hi. Can I sit with you?" he asked, looking at Tom and Maia.

Tom was getting nervous. He didn't like crowds and it seemed that this compartment would soon become crowded.

"Yes, you can," Maia said with a smile.

The boy entered and sat next to Tom.

"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Malfoy, Abraxas Malfoy. May I know your names?

"Malfoy?" Maia repeated. "Are you a son of Cornelius Malfoy?"

"Yes I am," Abraxas replied with a proud smile.

"So your father works with mine at the Ministry. My name is Maia Black, I'm the daughter of Arcturus Black."

Abraxas smiled and offered her his hand. "I'm glad to meet you. Hope we can be a good friends like our fathers."

Maia took his hand. "Glad to meet you too. Sure, we will be friends."

Abraxas then turned to face Tom, who listened to their conversation.

"And you are?" Abraxas now offered him his hand.

Tom looked at him, and then shook his hand. "My name is Tom Riddle."

Abraxas raised his eyebrow. "Riddle, haven't heard of a wizard with the surname Riddle before. Or you are a Muggle-born?"

Tom opened his mouth to say something, but Maia interrupted him. He cast her a furious look that she didn't notice.

"He doesn't know. He grew up in an orphanage."

"Oh," Malfoy sighed. "I think that you will know soon."

"How?" Tom wondered.

"Well, you'll know it by the house you get sorted into."

"What does that have to do with it?"

Maia replied him. "There are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Students with just intelligence go to Ravenclaw, stupid ones go to Hufflepuff." She smirked and continued slightly disgusted, "And Muggle-borns or Muggle Lovers which are oh-so-noble-and-brave," she emphasized cynically while Malfoy giggled, "go to Gryffindor. While those who are pure-bloods, sometimes half-bloods, who are intelligent, ambitious and shrewd go to Slytherin."

"The best ones go to Slytherin," Malfoy added.

"Right. No Muggle-borns," Maia smiled.

Tom wondered in which house he would go. After he heard that, he wanted Slytherin. He craved to prove that he had wizard blood and that he was worthy.

The train traveled for the whole day. Tom remained silent; he only spoke when they asked him something. He still didn't like this girl although she seemed much less awful than when he first saw her. He liked Malfoy more. He was a funny boy, and he seemed to get along well with both of them. When a woman selling food came to ask them if they needed something, both of them pulled out a bunch of galleons and bought almost everything. Tom never saw so much gold on one place. It seemed that they didn't mind that he didn't have a lot of money. They were willing to share. At least Maia, Abraxas was busy eating, he really was voracious. Maia looked at him with reproach. She didn't eat a lot, she just wanted to spend some money; it was a caprice.

It was getting darker now. As they were approaching Hogwarts, Maia and Abraxas became silent. Tom was grateful because of that. Then a voice suddenly echoed through the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes. Please, leave your luggage in the train, it will be taken separately."

Maia jumped from her seat and slid open the doors of the compartment. "Malfoy, you better get dressed in your uniform," she said and left them.

The train started to slow down, then finally it stopped. Abraxas got even paler. Tom noticed that he was nervous. He didn't understand that, he was excited, but not nervous. They pushed their way through the crowd and out on a small and dark platform. The older students went away in the carriages that seemed to go on their own, without horses to pull them. Maia approached them again. Her vivid red hair almost shone in the dark.

"Will someone come to us?" she asked, yawned and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Yeah, someone is coming." Tom said, pointing toward the yellow light with his slim long finger.

An old man approached them. "First year. Follow me," he said loudly.

They followed him silently down the narrow path; they could barely see anything, it was so dark. No one spoke. But almost everyone let out a sigh when they saw where their path lead them. They approached the huge black lake. On top of the highest mountain across the lake, a huge magnificent castle with high towers was placed. Its windows sparkled like stars in the darkness.

"Please, enter in the boats," he pointed at small boats that were placed by the shore. "Just four of you in one."

Tom, Maia and one muscular boy entered into one. Abraxas hesitated.

"Come on boy, hurry," the man warned him. He slowly entered the boat.

"What was that?" Maia asked.

"I'm afraid of water," he murmured.

Tom smirked. He couldn't understand such stupid fears.

The boats moved all at once, gliding slowly across the black water, smooth like velvet. They watched the castle in awe as they were approaching the cliff on which castle stood.

"Bow your heads!" the man warned them.

They obeyed him. One by one, boats passed through the curtains of ivy that covered the opening in the cliff. They entered the dark tunnel that led them underneath the castle. In a couple of moments they reached the underground harbor and left the boats. The road was full of pebbles. They followed the man down the opening in the rock and stepped on the big lawn of smooth glass. They were in front of great castle now. They walked up a flight of stairs and now they stood in front of massive oak doors. All of them were amazed and Tom was impressed too. He never saw such a beautiful thing in his entire life. He was sure that castle was a stronghold of powerful magic. The man knocked thrice on the door. They waited a bit and then the door swung open, blinding them with the castle light. Albus Dumbledore stood there and smiled at them, warmly opening his hands, "Welcome to Hogwarts, the Greatest School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"


	3. The Sorting Ceremony

_**The Sorting Ceremony**_

Dumbledore still smiled at them. Tom had a strange impression that Dumbledore observed with those piercing eyes of his, very carefully. Tom disliked him.

"Those are the first years, Professor Dumbledore."

"Thank you, Orion. I will take them from here," Dumbledore said kindly.

He opened those huge doors widely and they entered the hall. It was enormous. The stonewall was lit by torches, the ceiling was very high and a majestic marble staircase led to the upper floors.

"Follow me," Dumbledore said.

Students followed him quietly across the stone floor. A noise came from the doors to the right. The rest of the students were in there. Dumbledore led them to a small room off the hall. They gathered in. A lot of them were shaking.

"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony, because while you are here, your house will be like your family within Hogwarts. You don't need to be nervous, this is not something complicated," he said and looked at the small freckled girl who was shaking and was ghostly pale.

"You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The ceremony will start in a couple of minutes. I will leave you to prepare now."

He smiled and left the room.

Some students started to panic. Tom turned to Maia, who now pulled and twisted the ends of her hair. She was nervous too. He grinned amused.

"How do they sort?" he asked.

"They put a Sorting Hat on your head and he chooses the House," she garbled.

"It must be a magical hat," Tom stated.

Maia nodded. "God, help me, I don't want to finish in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor!" She bowed her head, like in a prayer.

"If you don't want to be with brave Gryffindors, then you surely want Slytherin."

Maia turned her head to see who said that. It was the same muscular boy who was in the boat with her.

"I don't need bravery without a mind," she replied with a poisonous note in her soft voice.

"And I don't want mind if it is evil," the boy replied.

Dumbledore entered in the room and interrupted their argument.

"The ceremony will start now. Please be kind enough and form a line."

They obeyed immediately. Tom stood behind a freckled nervous girl. Maia stood behind him, while Abraxas went at the end of the line. They followed Dumbledore out of the chamber then across the hall again. They passed through the double doors right into the Great Hall.

Tom couldn't believe that such a splendid place exists. It was bigger than the previous hall, lit by thousands and thousands of candles that floated in the middle of the air above the four long tables. Tables were full of golden goblets and plates. At the end of the hall was placed a large table for teachers. It was higher than other tables. He also noticed strange misty figures.

"Look, the ghosts!" Tom heard someone whispering.

When he raised his head, he noticed a velvet black ceiling embroidered with stars. The enchanted ceiling, he read about it.

They followed Dumbledore to the teacher's table. They watched him quietly as he placed a small four-legged stool in front of them. He placed an old, tattered hat on it. For a few seconds they stared at the hat. The hat twitched, and a rip near the brim opened like a large deformed mouth.

"New students, I see," the hat spoke. All students watched in surprise.

"Come to me now, my dears. Let me see your mind and let me tell you where you belong."

Dumbledore stepped forward. He was holding a large parchment in his hands.

"When I call your name you will come and sit on this stool. I will place this hat on your head and he will tell you in which house you will go."

"Abbot, Caldwell!"

Fat, bright haired boy nervously approached to the stool and sat down. Dumbledore placed the hat on his head. Half a minute passed. The hat shouted,

"Hufflepuff!"

Table on the right clapped. The boy smiled and went to sit with his housemates.

"Allen, Tristan!"

Another boy went to the chair.

"Ravenclaw!"

Now the second table from the left clapped.

"Beans, Mariah!"

Freckled girl went to the stool. Maia was getting tenser. It will be her turn soon.

"Hufflepuff!"

Another series of cheers followed.

"Black, Maia Ursula!"

Maia gasped. Her heart pounded faster. She clenched her lips and fists as she headed toward the stool, glancing back to the other first years. Tom smirked wickedly; he felt some subtle pleasure when he saw her anxiety.

Maia sat on the stool. Dumbledore placed the hat on her head.

"Hm, another Black. And a very talented and ambitious one. " She shivered when she heard the hat speak. "I'm not sure where I should put you."

_'Slytherin, please, only Slytherin,'_ she thought, overwhelmed with fear.

"Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are not for you. You don't posses enough qualities for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, although your heart is not deprived of bravery and loyalty, not completely," the hat spoke, his voice ringing in her head, ignoring her thoughts. "What would it be, Slytherin or Ravenclaw?"

_'Please, I need to be in Slytherin. All members of my family where in Slytherin, for centuries,'_ she thought desperately while all the students were watching her. Why it took so long?

"Slytherin? Are you sure? You could do great in Ravenclaw, your mind is an impeccable one,' he stated.

_'No, please don't.'_

"I already said that you are ambitious. Wickedness you have, and I can also see a bit of cruelty in you. Yes. I can see inside your heart. Slytherin can give you all you want. Glory. Power. Eternity."

She shuddered. How did he know about her wishes?

"Would you be strong enough to withstand your ambition?"

_'I would,' _she thought, bowing her head.

"Are you sure?"

_'Completely!' _

"Then I have a right place for you." He then said aloud, so the others can hear, "Slytherin!"

The table near the doors started clapping and cheering loudly. Students from the table on the other side of the hall whistled.

Maia jumped from her seat and laughed loudly, relieved. She got into Slytherin! She handed the hat back to Dumbledore who smiled because of her happiness. She went to the Slytherin table. On her way to the table her light eyes met Tom's, which were darker than night. She smiled at him. He returned her smile. He will be sorted later.

_'__It seems that the hat counts our opinions,__'_ he thought, watching Maia while she seated at the Slytherin table.

One boy with curly black hair moved to make her some space. "Welcome to Slytherin. Hope you like it here. By the way, my name is Roderick Lestrange, I'm a second year. " He said. His voice was deep and rough.

"Nice to meet you," Maia smiled to him and continued watching the ceremony.

"Boot, Astrid!"

She became the first Gryffindor. A table at the end of the hall clapped. Slytherin table whistled. Maia joined the whistling. She knew about the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

"Caine, Elena!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Edwards, Ulrich!"

"Hufflepuff"

"Gambon, John!"

"Gryffindor!"

Tom watched them going to their seats. It seemed that none of the students except Maia got sorted into Slytherin, well, at least until now.

"Malfoy, Abraxas!"

Tom watched the boy approaching to the seat. He was totally confused. After one minute hat shouted:

"Slytherin"

Malfoy rose from the stool and joined Maia at the Slytherin table. Roderick Lestrange patted him on the back.

"It seems we made it!" Abraxas said to Maia, sighing with relief. She responded with a smile.

"Prewett, Andriana!"

The proud looking girl sat on the stool. The hat shouted immediately:

"Gryffindor!"

"Moody, Alastor!"

Muscular boy who started an argument with Maia in the small chamber sat on the stool.

"Gryffindor!"

Nott, Abraham became the next Slytherin. Oakley, Jane became the next Hufflepuff, Odell, Ofelia also.

"Parkinson, Lucy"

A cute dark haired girl sits on the stool.

"Slytherin!"

All the Slytherins clapped. Maia was glad that she was not the only girl sorted into Slytherin this year.

"Parkinson, Jasmine!"

"Gryffindor!"

Maia found it very strange. Twin sisters sorted into different houses.

Pemberton, Todd went to Ravenclaw. Potter, Carlisle became the next Gryfiindor.

"Riddle, Tom Marvolo!"

Tom went to sit calmly. Dumbledore observed him above his glasses. Maia and Abraxas watched silently. Maia wondered where the hat would sort him. Tom barely managed to sit, the very same second the hat lightly touched his head it shouted:

"Slytherin!"

He proudly went to sit at the Slytherin table next to Abraxas that along with Maia applauded loudly. The sorting was finished. He was the last one.

When he sat at the table Malfoy, Maia and Roderick congratulated him.

"Good news, it seems that you are not a Muggleborn." Maia said with a wink.

His thoughts were confirmed. His father was definitively a wizard. But he ought to double-check that.

"I'm hungry," Malfoy said somberly.

"The feast will soon begin, you insatiable eater." Maia said. Malfoy smirked.

An old, gray haired man who looked fragile, rose from the teacher's table.

"Silence, please." He raised his hands.

The Great Hall became quiet.

"Who is that?" Tom asked, whispering.

"That's Armando Dippet, the Headmaster." Roderick replied.

"First I want to say welcome to all of you, especially first years. I hope that you will like it here and that you will behave properly. First years should know that forest on the school grounds; The Forbidden forest is strictly prohibited for all the students. You don't have any business in there. Also, you don't have any needs to perform magic in the halls between classes. Dueling is forbidden. Our caretaker, Mr. Filch will make sure that you don't." He looked at the grumpy looking middle-aged man.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. If you want to play for your house, contact Madam Hooch." He pointed at the young short-haired brunette that sat on the end of the teacher's table.

"First years are not allowed to play. Well, that would be all. Enjoy yourselves, let the feast begin." He waved with his hands.

All the golden plates and goblets instantly filled. Food appeared from nowhere. Tom was amazed again. He never saw such a quantity of food in his entire life. All kinds of meat and potatoes, even some strange dishes he never saw before. He never liked food before; orphanage food was gross and unsalted. This one looked so nice. Before he even realized, Malfoy already piled Tom's plate with a bit of everything before he piled Maia's plate. They looked at him strangely.

"What?" He asked innocently. "You should eat. It would be a pity that such great food goes to waste." He said while piling his plate with loads of beef.

"As you say Daddy." Maia replied mockingly before she started eating. Tom ate too. He glanced at Dumbledore, he was speaking with the Headmaster, but he would swear that he is observing him with his left eye. He moved his eyes from the teacher's table when he heard a scream from his house table. He looked at Malfoy, whose face was petrified with fear. He looked in the same direction and spotted a tall, misty figure, with big, blank eyes. His face was drained and his robes looked like they were stained with drops of silver-looking blood. Tom wasn't afraid of him.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, fearless.

Frosty, arrogant voice replied him." I'm a ghost of Slytherin house…"

Malfoy interrupted him "Bloody Baron!"

Baron looked at him strictly. "Such impertinence. You should call me…"

"Your Bloodiness, Mr. Baron," Maia said with a respectful voice and bowed her head slightly.

"That's right." He said, looking at her approvingly then moved away. Tom noticed that Maia also wasn't afraid of this ghost while the vast majority of his new housemates found him to be scary.

"Why can't we go to the Forbidden forest?" Tom asked.

"Because it is dangerous. There are a lot of beasts there. Werewolves and all rest," Roderick answered his question.

"I have heard forest is dwelling for even more dangerous and weird creatures than werewolves," Maia said.

"I would like to go there," Tom said. He wasn't afraid. And the fact that the forest is forbidden was tempting.

"Me too," Maia said.

Malfoy glanced at both of them "Go into the forest? You must be mad to do so!"

"I heard that unicorns also live there. I would like to ride them!" Maia added.

Unicorn, ghosts, and werewolves. Tom wondered what is the next strange thing he will hear about?

"I didn't know that someone could ride them," Abraxas said, surprised.

"Just females, but not all. Just the unicorn-baits," Roderick said.

"What is the unicorn bait?" Maia asked.

"That's a pure woman."

"You mean good at heart?" Malfoy asked.

"No, I meant… never mind." Roderick shook his head.

Then, all the food from plates disappeared. Deserts changed it. Ice creams of all flavors, various cakes and pies.

All of them were engaged in conversation. Tom talked with Roderick about the classes he will have in the first year. He was eager to learn as much as he could. Even more. Malfoy, Maia and another Slytherin girl Lucy talked about Quidditch. They were complaining about the fact that first years are not all allowed to apply for the House team. As much as Tom could understand from their conversation, which he overheard, it was a sport with flying brooms and three types of balls. It sounded lame to him, he disliked sports.

After a while, Headmaster rose again.

"Well, I hope you all enjoyed the feast. Now please, leave the Hall and go to your common rooms. First years please, follow your prefect. They will show you the way. Good night and hope you sleep well!

All the students left the tables. They now made a bustle.

"First year Slytherins follow me!" One tall boy with a scar across his left cheek said. They followed him to the entrance room. While the majority of students went up the Grand Staircase, Slytherins went down the marble staircase, beneath the ground. They entered the dungeons. It was huge and dark, a little bit creepy. They continued walking down the other staircases, deeper and deeper beneath the school. It seemed that the dungeons were never ending labyrinth of passages. Finally they stopped in front of bare, damp wall.

"Rattlesnake!" the boy with a scar said.

The stone door hidden in the wall slid open. One by one, they entered in the common room.

The Slytherin common room was long with jagged stone walls. Round lamps on the chains hanged from the ceiling. A fire was crackling from the massive fireplace engraved with snakes. A mantelpiece was placed above the fireplace, also engraved with snakes.

It was full of black and dark green sofas and chairs with buttons. All of them were made from leather. Some of them had high, some low backs. Elegant and luxurious windows showed the water from the lake. It gave a room light a green shade. There were also a lot of ebony cupboards and some strange skulls. The atmosphere was splendid, but somehow cold.

They went down the couple of marble stairs and sat all around the room. Abraxas lay on the couch and put his hands behind head.

"It's really good here. What do you think?" he said turning his head toward Maia and Tom. Tom sat on the armchair with high back and crossed his legs while Maia, Lucy and Roderick sat on the couch across Malfoy.

"It's wonderful," Maia said with a smile and placed her feet on the low table, which legs were shaped like snakes.

"Didn't they teach you at home that its not nice to place feet on the table?" Tom said. He was glad he had a chance to reprimand her, even if it was a trivial thing.

She grinned. "Yeah, they did. Always prohibited me that. Heh, I finally can do what I want."

"Yeah, farewell to parental supervising, at least for a couple of months," Malfoy said happily.

Tom looked at the snakes engraved in the fireplace. He liked the room. It seemed like it was made according to his taste. Extravagant, majestic and a bit gloomy.

"Why are snakes engraved everywhere?" he asked.

Maia laughed with that musical laugh, which he started to hate. He was furious because she was laughing to his lack of knowledge about a magical world.

"Tom, serpent is the symbol of Slytherin. It is on our coat of arms. Silver snake on green milieu," she said when she stopped laughing.

"Why snake?" Tom asked.

"Because Salazar Slytherin, founder of the house, was a Parselmouth," Maia explained. She usually hated to explain things to someone, but she made an exception.

"What is a Parselmouth?" He never heard of that word.

"A person that can speak with snakes." This time Roderick was the first to answer to his question.

"Then I'm a Parselmouth," Tom said proudly. _"I can speak with snakes."_ He hissed the last word.

Abraxas and Roderick widened their eyes. It was for them like a bolt from the blue. Lucy, who seemed to be shy, looked like she will faint. Maia was smiling, but her eyes glistened with respect.

"Wow, it's brilliant," Malfoy mumbled.

"It's one of the rarest gifts," Roderick added.

Tom smirked, triumphantly and proudly. They were impressed with him.

"I'm a Parselmouth too," Maia said casually. It was nothing strange for her. Her father said to her that one of their ancestors was a Parselmouth. She surely inherited it.

They turned to her now. Tom looked at her, infuriated. What does she think? How can she dare to steal their admiration for him, how dare she ruin his moment of triumph?

"Prove me that you can," he said wrathfully with so much hatred that she widened her eyes in shock. Malfoy looked at him, slightly troubled.

_"As you wish,"_ she hissed, slightly irritated by his tone. _"For your information, no one gives orders to me!"_

He was really shocked now._ "Don't mess with me!"_ he warned her with a soft hiss.

Abraxas looked at Tom, then at Maia. He didn't understand anything, all he heard was some strange hissing.

"You two are brilliant!" Roderick said with awe.

Tom turned to face him. "It means that this gift is not rare," he said, it really was a big disappointment.

Abraxas shook his head "You are wrong, this is very rare."

"Among one million people, one is a Parselmouth. You two are the only Parselmouths to ever come to Hogwarts, well except Salazar Slytherin." Roderick added.

His words cheered Tom up. But he was still sad that he is not the only one with that rare gift.

"People say that it is evil, connected with Dark Arts," Lucy spoke for the first time since they arrived in the Common room.

"Never mind that. This is cool," Malfoy said. "I never imagined that I would meet a Parselmouth. And now, I met two in the same day!" He was still thrilled.

Tom was flattered when Lucy mentioned that this is connected with the dark arts. He read about them in a schoolbook. They were powerful, fearsome, everything he prized. Sadly they didn't teach them at Hogwarts. He needed to find a way to learn them.

"Pity we don't get to learn them," Maia said her words were a reflection of Tom thoughts. She also prized power, more than everything.

"Well, if you want to read about the Dark Arts, you must get access to restricted sections in the library. I have heard that some really dark and horrible books are stored there. But they give permissions just to older students, or those that are extraordinarily talented. By the way, try to not speak about it except in our common room. We Slytherins have a bad reputation." Roderick smiled.

"Okay, we should go to sleep now, I'm tired," Malfoy yawned.

Tom agreed, he was sleepy too.

"Girls' dormitories are to the right, boys' are to the left," Roderick said and left them. "Good night."

Maia rose from couch." Good night, see you 'morrow."

Lucy followed her. The two of them shared the same dormitory.

"It's great. Just the two of us," Maia said when she entered in the greenish room and saw two nice canopy beds with velvet green sheets and silver hangings.

"Well, just a small number of girls go to Slytherin," Lucy said.

They dressed their nightgowns, chatted a bit then they both fell asleep.

* * *

Tom went with Malfoy in their dormitory. They shared it with one boy. Tom thought that his surname was Nott. He was snoring already. The dormitory was similar to the common room. Luxurious, green light. Malfoy lay in the bed, without changing his uniform.

"Night," Malfoy yawned.

"Good night," Tom said. He changed into his night suit and went to sleep. He stared for a bit through silver green bed curtains. He could hear soothing sounds of the lake. He was content. For the first time in his life, he felt that he belonged somewhere. He belonged here. He felt like he was home, at last.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for all the reviews. You really made me happy. Thanks to Cookies-and-Inks again for beta-ing and advices!


	4. The Challenge

**_The _****_C_****_hallenge_**

Tom woke up early next morning. Malfoy and Nott were still sleeping. He put on his school robes and went to the common room. It was empty except one figure that was curled up in an armchair. He recognized her immediately. It was Maia. Apparently, she fell asleep with her book. Tom smirked and approached one of the cupboards, took one fake skull from there and intentionally dropped it on the floor. It made an unpleasant, loud sound. Maia jumped, startled.

"What the hell was that?"

"Oh nothing, I just took it to give it a closer look, and it slipped out of my hands, accidentally," he lied. "Sorry if I have scared you," he added, making his lie sound even more convincing. The truth was that he really wanted to scare her and disturb her sleep.

"Never mind, it happens." She shook her head, yawning.

Tom picked up the skull from the floor. He was really content that she swallowed up his lie. "Why were you sleeping in the common room?" he asked. Tom noticed that she was in her uniform too.

"I went to sleep, but I woke up at four so I dressed up and came here to read, but I fell asleep again," Maia replied.

Tom approached her and looked at the book. It was the same one that he saw in the display at the bookstore. He sat on the chair and took it, without asking for her permission but it seemed that Maia didn't pay attention to that. She just said, "That book is really good. I already read it. Take it if you want."

Tom just nodded. A couple of moments later Roderick entered the room. "Good morning!"

"Good morning," Maia and Tom replied.

"How was your first night here?" he asked, sitting on the couch.

"Great!" Maia exclaimed.

"It would be better without Nott's snoring and Malfoy's talking in sleep," Tom said.

"What was Malfoy talking about?" Maia asked curiously.

"Did someone mention my name?" Malfoy suddenly appeared. "Good morning guys…. and girl," he added when he noticed Maia.

"We were wondering about what you were talking in sleep," Roderick informed him.

"I'm talking in sleep? Really?" Abraxas said, surprised. Tom nodded. "What did I say?"

"You were mentioning a fried chicken and a cute witch from the owl shop."

Roderick and Maia burst into laughter.

"Aren't you still too young to be thinking about those things?" Roderick said, laughing. Abraxas' ears turned pink.

Later, they packed their books and headed towards the Great Hall. A ghostly creäture flew above their heads and threw a bunch of papers on them, giggling like mad.

"What is wrong with that ghost?" Tom asked, his voice containing a small hint of anger.

"They should throw him out of school!" Maia exclaimed angrily, removing a small rolled piece of paper from her ponytail.

"He is Peeves, the Poltergeist," Roderick said. "He is always pulling pranks on the students. Luckily, he is afraid of Bloody Baron."

"Jerk!" Maia shifted her hair over her shoulder.

When they entered the Great Hall and sat at their tables, Dumbledore approached them and gave the class schedule to all the first years.

"We have double Potions with the Gryffindors," Malfoy said, a bit dissatisfied.

"That parading Mudblood bunch!" Maia said, looking at the Gryffindor table; a disgusted frown plastered on her face. The new Gryffindor girl, Astrid, spoke so loud about her Muggle parents that the entire hall could have heard her well.

Tom didn't understand why that girl boasted about something like that. He shook his head. He had seen enough Muggles in his life and he didn't like any of them. "What's a Mudblood?" Tom asked.

"A very insulting word for the Muggle-borns," Malfoy answered.

"Be careful not to use it in front of the teachers," Roderick warned them.

Then, about a hundred owls flew into the Great hall. "Here comes the mail!" Malfoy exclaimed. A snowy owl landed next to him, dropping a brown package. "Oh I forgot a school book at home," Malfoy said when he unpacked it.

Maia giggled. "They should have sent you a Remembrall!" Her long-eared owl brought her a letter.

"They asked me in which house I got sorted", she said while pulling a quill out of her bag. "Like they don't know it already!"

"How could they know it?" Tom asked, carefully following the quick movements of her hand.

Maia smirked. "You don't know?" A wave of anger washed over Tom; she was mocking him, again. "All the members of the Black family were in Slytherin, it's a tradition." In the meantime, her owl stole a bit of toast from Tom's plate. Maia giggled. He didn't think that it was funny.

In a couple of minutes, the majority of the students began leaving the Great Hall. "It's time for the classes, see you later." Roderick took his bag and headed towards the exit. "By the way, the Potions classroom is in the dungeons!" he shouted.

"Let's go," Malfoy rose from his seat. Maia and Tom headed with him towards the dungeons. Luckily, they found the classroom quickly. Gryffindors were already here.

The new Gryffindor girl, who obviously was a chatterer, said "Hello!" to the Slytherins. Malfoy and Tom remained silent. Tom couldn't respect a person that boasted about her Muggle lineage. Was she not glad to be different? Maia looked at her like she was a mud on her shoes. She wouldn't stoop so low to associate with Mudblood. The girl looked disappointed. The muscular boy, Alastor, looked at them, furious.

"Are you already thinking that you are superior to the others, Slytherins?"

"We don't just think, we know we are superior," Maia replied with a huge ironical smile.

The doors of the classroom opened. The man who had thick, straw colored hair and gingerly blonde mustaches smiled pleasantly at them. "Come in, children!"

One by one they entered the classroom. Tom went to sit in the first row, at the desk closest to the Professor's. Malfoy joined him and invited Maia to join them. She sat between them and Tom frowned. Couldn't he get rid of her? Their new housemate, Nott, who seemed a bit lost, joined them also. When they all sat the Professor started speaking.

"My name is Horace Slughorn. I'm your Potions Professor and the Head of the Slytherin House," he said, smiling to the Slytherins. He started arranging the buttons on his velvet green suit and continued with his speech, "the Potions are not an easy subject. It involves very little wand flicking, so I will understand if some of you don't find it interesting. I will try to transfer as much of my knowledge as I can to you, but you need to put some effort in this and listen to me. Of course, the natural talent will help. If you have any questions, you are free to ask, always. I only won't tolerate insults or quarrels in my class, and I hope we will all get along well." He then took the roll call from his desk.

"Astrid, Boot!" The Muggle-born Gryffindor girl raised her hand. Horace looked at her. "Your surname is unfamiliar to me. I don't know any witch or wizard with that surname."

"My parents are Muggles," she said. Nott whispered something to Malfoy and Maia; they smirked. Tom didn't pay attention to them.

"Ah," Slughorn sighed. "Black, Maia Ursula!" Maia raised her hand and smiled at Slughorn.

"Are you a daughter of Arcturus Black from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?" he asked, observing her.

She replied, "Yes, Sir."

He laughed. "I went to school with your father. I know your sisters also, they were great students."

"They spoke only good about you, Professor," Maia added politely.

"I saw that you inherited their good manners," he smiled at her. "Send my regards to your father."

"I will, Professor."

"Gambon, John!" The second Gryffindor raised his hand. "Malfoy, Abraxas!" Abraxas raised his hand. "Your father is from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement also? Cornelius?"

"Yes," Abraxas said proudly. Tom frowned; all of his housemates had parents who were somebody, while his were unknown.

"He was very talented with Potions, hope you will be like him." Abraxas frowned. He wasn't much of a studious type. "Prewett, Andriana!" The girl with the strict face and long brown hair raised her hand. "Your father was my school friend."

"Moody, Alastor!"

"Here!"

"Nott, Abraham! Your father was my housemate."

"Parkinson Lucy. Parkinson Jasmine!" Both of them raised their hands. "Your father is an Auror, right?"

"Yes," they both said.

"Potter, Carlisle! You came from a decent family."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle!"

Tom raised his hand. Slughorn said, "Dumbledore told me all about your case. I know that you were raised in an orphanage. I'm very sorry, dear boy, terribly sorry," he said honestly and sighed, giving Tom a compassionate look.

"Thank you, Sir," Tom said despite he hated the fact that someone pitied him. Who knows, maybe it would prove to be useful.

"Well, that would be everything. We will work on something simple for the beginning. The boil cure potion. You will work alone, but first we will take some notes."

They wrote for about twenty minutes before Slughorn handed them their ingredients and let them do their work. He would look at their potions occasionally.

They quickly started working. Malfoy seemed to have problems with crushing his snake fangs while Maia already made a fine powder out of her fangs. Malfoy looked at her pleadingly. "Crush me this, please," he whispered, afraid that Slughorn would hear him. She nodded, taking his mortar. Nott just waved at his potion with his wand while Slughorn was inspecting Alastor's work. Tom found the potion to be very easy; he didn't have problems with anything. He noticed that Slughorn passed near them and that he nodded when he glanced at his and Maia's potion. After an hour he said, "Please, move away from your cauldrons. Let me see what you made." He started to inspect the Gryffindor's potions. He didn't comment on anything, he just praised Moody who almost finished his potion. "Five points for Gryffindor," he said.

He then approached to the Slytherins. He looked at Nott's potion, filled with the blobs and shook his head sadly. After that he looked at Malfoy's potion, the same sad expression upon his face.

"You let it boil too much."

He then moved towards Tom and Maia. He looked at their cauldrons and after a moment of silent observing he clapped cheerfully.

"Oh ho, it seems that you two finished your potions and you did it right. Congrats! Even if it is easy, the first years often have trouble with it. It seems that you inherited the skill for brewing potions from your sisters, Miss Black. And you, Tom, it seems that you have a natural talent. That's very rare."

"Thank you for the compliment, Sir. I don't think that I'm as much talented as you say," Tom said softly. He was content because he praised him, but was angry that this little witch did it well also. He disliked sharing his new glory.

"You are modest also. I like that," Slughorn said excitedly."20 points for you Tom, and 20 points for Maia, making a total of 40 points for Slytherin. Class dismissed."

"It seems that Slughorn really likes the two of you," Malfoy said when they left the classroom.

"Of course he does," Maia winked.

"Lucky you," Malfoy said. Tom remained silent. He was still angry at Maia. Their next class was Transfiguration. They had a bit of trouble with the tricky staircases which often changed their position, but they managed to arrive on time. They had this class with the Hufflepuffs. Dumbledore read the roll call also before he started the class. He observed Tom again. When he spoke, his words were warm and it seemed that he really liked all of his students. He was joking also. They were taking notes again and then he handed them the matches that they needed to transfigure into the needles. It was really complicated.

At one point, Abraxas made his match explode. The whole class laughed along with Dumbledore. Nott managed to make his match disappear. The Hufflepuffs were getting nervous, none of them succeeded to made any changes. Dumbledore said, "There is no need to get nervous. Rarely who manages to change them the first time."

Maia succeeded to change a bit her match, after a while.

"Look Professor, it changed a bit!"

Dumbledore then took her match and showed it to the classroom. It got silver and pointy. He smiled to her sincerely. "Well done, Miss Black. You almost changed it completely. That's great for the beginner. 10 points for Slytherin." She smiled contentedly.

"How did you manage to do it?" Nott asked her sadly.

She just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, really."

Tom was disappointed. He didn't manage to do anything. He tried a couple more times. He was determined to do it. After a while, the match turned into the needle. He waited for Dumbledore to notice it.

"I really can't believe my eyes," Dumbledore said, taking his needle. "It's completely changed, very good Mister Riddle. I never saw that someone changed it completely during the first class. Even I didn't succeed," he smiled. "30 points for Slytherin. You really deserved it."

"Thank you Professor," he said, trying to hide his emotions. When they left the class Maia said to him, "That was really brilliant." A content smirk spread across his face. He did something that no one could, not even this redhead.

"If you keep doing great like this, we will win the House Cup this year," Malfoy smiled. "You two are geniuses." It seemed that he was glad to have smart friends.

The next class was Charms. Their teacher was a funny little creature called Filius Flitwick. He was so small that he needed to stand on a couple of books in order for the class to see him behind his deck. They were taking notes during the whole class. After they finished, he said with his squeaky voice, "Class dismissed!" Maia and Malfoy laughed all the way to the classroom where they had their next class, History of Magic. They made jokes about Flitwick. "He is like a Pekinese," Maia said through laughter.

History of Magic turned out to be pretty boring. Mr. Binns spoke without pause during the whole class, and they needed to write down everything he said. He was so boring, and almost everyone fell asleep. He was too swept up in his talk that he didn't even notice.

Malfoy was sleeping, as well as Nott. It seemed that Tom, Maia and one more girl from Gryffindor were the only ones taking notes. Maia covered her mouth with her hand. She was yawning constantly, barely awake. She didn't sleep just because she needed these notes.

A couple of days passed. They found out that magic was hard to learn. Maia found out that Herbology is the hardest. She hated that class, because of her hatred towards the plants but she tried to do well. On Thursday night, at midnight, they went to Astronomy tower to study planets and stars. They also had to memorize their names and movements. It seemed that Malfoy enjoyed this class a lot.

A nice old witch with motherly behavior towards the students, Galatea Merrythought was the Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts. She was impressed with Maia, Tom and also with Moody, much to both Maia and Tom's dismay. But she seemed to like Tom the most, because of the fact that he was an orphan, and a particularly talented and modest one.

Transfigurations got even harder. Maia and Tom did well, while the rest of the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs had the trouble to do so. Dumbledore continued observing Tom. Despite his extraordinary talent he didn't seem to praise him much. Tom didn't try to impress him as he did with the other teachers, which all seemed to be impressed by him.

Potions were easy to him. The others thought that it was a very difficult subject. Malfoy got slightly better thanks to Maia, who helped him a lot. Slughorn was so much impressed with Tom and Maia, and he kept talking about them constantly. He started assuring Tom that he surely has a decent lineage, because he was, according to his words, one of his best students. Meanwhile, the rivalry between Maia and Tom grew up. Maia was glad that her housemate was doing good. She wanted to be best, but she didn't have the problem with him being equally brilliant. Tom was the one that hated her progress. Whatever he did great, she did too. He finally found a place where they didn't consider him to be a freak, like the orphanage brats did and he was determined to show that he was special, and then she came. Brilliant, Parselmouth, everything he was. He would be glad if he had the chance to evade her but it was impossible. Malfoy, who seemed to worship them both, always invited her to join them. They sat together on every class, during the meals, even in the common room.

Some of the other students spent their time with them occasionally. Nott, Lucy, who always kept quiet and the second years Roderick Lestrange and Nicolas Dolohov. They all were impressed with Tom and Maia. Especially with Tom and his stories about punish the orphans that angered him. He would sometimes lose his temper and speak harsh with Maia, who always replied him in the same way, although she never started the quarrel; she sort of liked him. Abraxas always was the one to break the tension between them, so Tom needed to tolerate her presence. Two weeks passed without any incident.

* * *

It was the morning and the Great Hall was full and noisy like always. The first years were especially excited. Today they would have their first flying class.

"Oh, my God, I just can't wait. It's gonna be awesome. Just imagine me flying above Hogwarts!" Malfoy said dreamily.

Maia laughed and added, "And throwing dung-bombs at those Mudbloods from above."

Malfoy sighed, daydreaming.

Lucy seemed to be nervous. "I'm afraid. What if I fall?"

Maia waved her hand. "Nah, you won't."

"It happens sometimes. It happens even to me," Roderick, who was a Quidditch Keeper, said.

"Why you are not excited about flying lessons, Tom?" Maia asked.

Tom really was the only one that didn't share their enthusiasm. "I think it's somehow stupid, riding a broom," he frowned.

Maia shrugged her shoulders; she had a completely different opinion.

"I think it is better than trying to shape shift a snail into a teapot," Nott said.

"Or mixing potions that tend to blow up," Malfoy added.

Tom smirked. In two weeks Malfoy succeeded in making three cauldrons explode despite Maia was doing everything she could to help him. Tom didn't understand why she even bothered.

"Potions are my favorite class. That and Transfigurations," Maia said.

"It's easy for you and Tom to like Potions when that old Horace simply adores you," Nott stated.

"Well, that's because we are good at it," Tom said.

"You mean good at everything," Nott replied sadly. "As for me, my favorite class is History of Magic, at least I can sleep through it."

When they went to their classes later, they still talked about flying with excitement. Maia was sad because they needed to use the old school broomsticks. She was planning to persuade her father to buy her a new broomstick and then try to smuggle it here. When the last class for that day, Transfigurations, was over they headed outside of the castle, across the nice smooth lawn to the ground on the opposite side of the Forbidden Forest. The Gryffindors were already there. All the broomsticks were laying on the ground, waiting for them. Their Professor was a young brunette with catlike eyes.

"May I know why are you late, Slytherins?" she strictly asked.

"Because of Peeves," Maia rolled her eyes. "He threw a bag full of spiders on us."

Professor nodded and said, "Then what are you waiting for? Stand by your brooms." They quickly obeyed her.

"Now put your right hand above the broom." They all did so. Tom was feeling pretty stupid. It was like a joke.

"Now say 'up'!" she commanded.

"Up!" they all said in unison.

Maia was the only one that succeeded immediately; her broom flew into her hand easily. Nott's broom rolled on the ground, making some wird moves. Malfoy succeeded after three attempts. Tom's broom didn't move at all. He was feeling really stupid, even more because she succeeded to do something again, and this time he failed.

"It is enough," the Professor said. She then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding from it. The very same moment Tom mounted his broom and placed his hand on it, it began to twitch and turn left and right. The broom was moving without control and it started to rise from the ground.

**_"Immobulus!"_ **The Professor made the broom froze instantaneously. Tom jumped from the broom quickly. The Gryffindors were giggling. Tom was so embarrassed and enraged; he clenched his fists, trying to calm himself down.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes," he said through his clenched teeth.

She looked at him for a while. "Are you a left-hander?" she asked seriously. He nodded briefly.

"Oh, that explains everything. You see, left-handers are never good at flying with brooms. They can't command them. It's better that you don't try it."

He nodded. After all, he wasn't interested in broomsticks. He was just angry that he embarrassed himself in front of the others, especially in front of Maia; she would surely laugh because of that.

"You don't have to attend this class anymore. You are free to go," she said before she turned to face other students. "Now, when I whistle, I want you to kick off from the ground, keep your broom steady, rise a few feet from the ground then point your broomstick towards the ground slightly to get down.

She counted, "One, two, three," and whistled. Tom headed towards the castle. He didn't wish to stay and watch the others doing something he couldn't. He kicked one small rock angrily. When he glanced behind, he saw that Maia succeeded to rise from the ground.

_'__If only you would fall!__' _Tom thought hatefully, watching her as his dark eyes flared angrily. Suddenly, when she tried to land, she lost control of her broomstick and she fell and hit on the ground. Tom snickered wickedly before he went away. He always could harm anyone he wished to.

"Are you alright, dear?" The Professor asked Maia, running towards her. "Are you hurt?"

Malfoy helped her rise from the ground. "You've broken your nose."

Maia touched her nose and threw a look at her hand. She spotted small, shining crimson drop on it. Blood.

"I will fix it." Professor raised her wand _**"Episkey!"**_ Maia felt a wave of coldness followed by a wave of warmness in her nose. She touched it again. It seemed that it was fixed. Malfoy handed her a handkerchief to wipe blood away.

"You better not try flying again today," he said.

Maia shook her head. "Everything was going good. I really don't know what happened. But I need to do it right," she replied stubbornly. She mounted her broom again. Before the class ended just two more students succeeded to do it well. Both were Gryffindors.

"Class dismissed!" Hooch said leaving them.

"It seemed that Slytherins have bad luck with brooms." Maia heard Alastor talking when he and his friends passed near the bunch of Slytherins. "First that everyone-favorite Tom couldn't control it. Than that Red Ophidian fell from the broom! It seemed that the brooms couldn't stand their evilness." He and his friends laughed.

"He is too much cocky," Nott said " I would punch him gladly."

Maia sneered and raised her wand.

"What are you doing?" Malfoy's eyes widened.

_**"Mucus ad Nauseam!"**_ she said in a low voice pointing at Moody.

"Let's see how he deals with some nasty cold." She laughed.

"You can be really scary sometimes," Lucy said quietly.

Moody glanced behind. "It seemed like someone cast a spell." But, as he didn't feel anything he said to his friend and left. "Just my imagination."

Later, Slytherins entered in the common room, laughing. Tom was sitting there, still grim.

"Hey Tom, you should have seen how Maia performed a Curse of the Bogies. She hit Moody." He frowned even more.

Maia giggled. "It's really nothing. The best part will be when he starts sneezing. He won't even know why."

"Could you stop laughing so loud?" Tom said sharply, crossing his long fingers. "I have a headache," he lied, just to be spared from her unbearable laughter. If she continues with it, I will surely get a headache, he thought grimly.

Maia nodded "Alright."

They sat around the room and chatted for a bit. Malfoy was a bit disappointed that he couldn't fly.

"You will, soon. I'm sure," Maia assured him.

"At least I didn't fall," Lucy said phlegmatically.

"Yeah, you didn't manage to move it at all, let alone flying," Nott stated.

"And your broom just rolled on the ground like it was drunk," Maia said, covering her mouth, to prevent laughter. She looked at Tom.

"Are you okay now?"

Tom remained silent. He despised her so much at this moment, that he would strangle her with his own hands.

"You should go to the Hospital Wing if it hurts you badly," she said in a slightly worried tone.

"Could you just stop talking to me? I don't need your advices!" he burst.

"What's wrong with you, Tom?" she asked.

"What is wrong with _you_?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," she replied, offended.

"Yes, it is. You just don't know when you should talk and when you should remain quiet," he said, unable to hold his anger anymore.

"No one says to me what to do and when to speak. I won't tolerate that kind of behavior," she hissed through her clenched teeth.

"And I won't tolerate you," he said coldly.

"Could you two calm down?" Lucy asked; she was scared a bit.

"No, I can't!" Maia yelled. "I try to be nice with him and he constantly acts rude. It's enough!"

"What are you going to do?" Tom provoked her. "You can't impress me, like you can impress our teachers."

"So that's the reason. You hate me because I'm not a dunderhead."

"You're worse," he lied. He knew she wasn't, but he would use any mean to offend her.

"And what are you. A bootlicker?"

He jumped from his seat pulling out his wand. She raised hers.

_**"Evarte…"**_

_**"Petrif…."**_

"Stop it! Enough!" Prefect appeared and tossed himself between them." What is the meaning of this?"

"We were just demonstrating what we learned," Tom lied.

"You have really learned much in just two weeks but no demonstrations on each other, or other students or I will report this to the Headmaster. Is that clear?" he seemed angry.

Both Tom and Maia said, "Yes."

"Fine," he said pompously and left.

"Please, don't continue with your argument," Malfoy pleaded.

Tom nodded. He just approached to Maia and hissed in Parseltongue.

_"If you want to continue what we started, meet me in the fourth floor corridor. On Halloween, during the banquet. Alone. You have enough time to prepare yourself. Until then, stay away from me."_

_"I will be there."_ she hissed back.

He smirked and then he left. He have chosen that term, because he knew that everybody would be in the Great Hall. He heard that Halloween banquets tend to be very long.

"What did he say?" Malfoy asked.

"He wants a duel. One on one. During Halloween banquet."

"You are kidding! You two won't fight each other!" Malfoy said, disappointed. He really liked them. Great students, Parselmouths, and he was sure that Tom was a Pureblood just as Maia. He was proud to hang with them.

"Yes, we will. And nor you, nor someone else will forbid it," she replied coldly and determinately.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay, I had a lot of stuff to do in real life, so I really didn't have time for writting. I hope that I will continue updating regularly.


	5. The Parseltongue Duel

_**The Parseltongue Duel **_

"Please, you still have time! Change your mind!" Malfoy whined, still fruitlessly trying to persuade his angry and not-so-rational friend from doing something so stupid.

"Malfoy, stop pestering like a wild goose. I told you for at least hundred times that I will go!" Maia retorted, her voice rising with every word.

"You will get expelled," Malfoy muttered in disappointment.

"I won't get caught," she replied, overly-confident.

"What if something bad happens?"

"Get lost before I hex you, Abraxas," Maia muttered in a deadpan voice.

"That's exactly what Tom told me yesterday when I proposed him to cancel that stupid deal," Malfoy muttered to himself as they were walking towards the Great Hall.

He tried to make them change their mind for the whole two weeks but it was in vain. They both were stubborn like hell, not to mention that they were infested with a virus called 'pride'.

'_At least I tried everything,'_ he thought to himself. He didn't know how to behave anymore, he was torn between them. He was the one that needed to sit between them during every class just to prevent another argument. It didn't go like he planned because they would often insult each other. Tom was still angry at her, and she didn't want to back off.

"Why you can't just get along well?" he asked sadly, tired from his attempts to repair the things between them.

"I don't know," she replied, jerking her head towards Malfoy as they found their place at the already crowded table. "I don't have any problem with him. He is the one that has a problem with me, although I didn't do anything bad to him." Maia cast an eye over to Tom who was speaking with Dolohov.

It seemed that Dolohov was amused because of the upcoming duel, lamenting because he won't have the chance to see it. Last night in the common room he was wondering aloud on whom he should place the bet. Maia was flattered because people spoke about her. Judging by Tom's behavior he was satisfied with his newly-acquired 'popularity' also. She shifted her eyes towards the Gryffindor table and noticed Alastor who was sneezing like mad, his nose colored like black. Maia smirked contentedly.

"Are you going to the library again after classes?" Malfoy asked.

Maia nodded. She spent a lot of time in the library, trying to memorize all the spells she would need; Tom was doing the same. They evaded each other in the library in case they would start arguing because the librarian would toss them out.

Maia believed that her chances to win were higher than Tom's because she had a lot of opportunities to practice the spells and curses before she went to school. When she was younger her father encouraged her to practice with his old wand. She was a Black and her father wanted her to be the best in everything. It was sort of a custom for Blacks to train their children before school, while Ministry still hadn't punished them for using magic. The old, sturdy wand wasn't the most ideal one, it felt weird in her hand but she still managed to use it properly, although not for all the spells. She had her own wand now and she discovered that doing spells with it wasn't so hard like with her father's wand. It seemed to obey her every command and it boosted her already big confidence.

"Going with me?" Maia asked.

"No. I'm sick and tired of those goddamn books. I just want to rest." Malfoy said flatly, shaking his head.

"As you wish," Maia said softly, slowly filling her plate with toast and eggs while Malfoy began to shovel food into his mouth.

Tom observed her carefully. With every day that passed, she became more and more annoying to him, continuing to excel in all the subjects. She laughed when he would say something, just to unnerve him. The only good thing was the fact that he didn't have to pretend and act nice with her. He narrowed his eyes which were still fixed upon her. He wanted her to choke on her food so badly.

A couple of moments later Tom's wish came true and Maia began coughing, gasping for breath because a piece of toast got stuck in her throat.

"_**Anapneo!" **_Prefect that sat close to her said, pointing his wand at Maia's throat.

"Are you okay?" Abraxas asked worriedly.

"Yes," Maia took in a deep breath, and looked up at Malfoy with bleary, unfocused eyes.

Maia's gaze shifted towards Tom again; she had a weird feeling, like she was being observed. He turned his head away, grinning. She immediately realized that it was his fault. After all, he was talking how he could harm people without using his wand.

"Oh, he will pay for this," she muttered, grinding her teeth, her eyes flickering angrily.

"Why? Why do you think he has something to do with it? What will you do?" Malfoy got scared.

Maia remained quiet, ignoring Malfoy who continued watching her, his eyebrows creased with worry.

Potions were the first class they had that morning. Maia and Tom sat in the first row, like always, while Malfoy and Nott sat between them, just in case. For that class Slughorn wanted them to try to brew the Wiggenweld potion.

"Don't worry if you get something wrong. It's slightly more complicated than those potions we used to brew in the past few weeks," Slughorn said, his voice cheerful, like usual.

They all opened their books and started working according to the recipe. The room was filled with the clatter of cauldrons and the rustle of papers.

Malfoy looked at the ingredients listed in the book and whispered to Maia, completely desperate, "By the time I finish this potion, I will be in second year. "

"I won't even try," Nott said dramatically.

"Please, don't disturb me," Maia muttered, glaring down at her book. She already started to make her potion, as well as Tom. Nott and Malfoy rushed to copy what they were doing, hoping that it would help them.

After half an hour Slughorn went to inspect the potions the Gryffindors made..

"Dear boy, you can't brew potions in such a state. Look, you sneezed all over it," he said as he stopped near Moody's cauldron.

Maia and Malfoy looked at each other, giggling silently.

"Look at my potion. How it looks?" Malfoy asked her, suddenly worried as he noticed Slughorn approaching them.

She looked at his cauldron, raising her eyebrows heavenwards. "Like a noodle soup."

Malfoy only sighed while Slughorn came to inspect their work. He leaned over Maia's cauldron. "Good, my dear. Just keep like that," he grunted contentedly and smiled to her. He hasn't even made any comment about Malfoy's potion.

He nodded after he inspected Nott's work. "It seems that you are getting slightly better," he stated. Nott grinned to Malfoy, who only huffed.

Slughorn moved to inspect Tom's work. "You are almost over. Great, dear boy."

"Thank you Sir," he answered like he always did when someone praised him. Slughorn smiled, enchanted with his modesty.

Huffing, Slughorn went back to the Gryffindors. Tom went to take a Unicorn Horn from the cabinet and Maia grinned, noticing her opportunity to retaliate. She pointed her wand towards his cauldron.

Malfoy's eyes widened in horror. What was she doing?

"_**Evanesco!"**_ she whispered.

Everything that was in Tom's cauldron vanished. She smiled wickedly, baring her teeth and turned back to her work.

"You should have done this to Gryffindors, not to him," Abraxas said, disappointed.

"He should have tried to choke a Gryffindor, not me," she remarked coldly.

Tom returned to his seat and when he noticed that his cauldron is empty, he barely could prevent himself to yell in anger.

"It was you, am I right?" Tom asked Maia in a low voice, his eyes glistening with rage.

"Me? I don't understand about what you are talking? What happened?" she asked in a well-imitated surprised voice, raising her eyebrows.

Tom looked at Malfoy and Nott furiously. They both bowed their heads. Their reaction only confirmed his suspicions.

"What is going on here?" Slughorn approached.

"My potion vanished from the cauldron Sir. I surely waved wrong with my wand," Tom replied, trying to keep his voice calm. He didn't say that he thinks that Maia is guilty; Tom thought that Slughorn wouldn't believe him because he thought that Maia was a sweet and well-mannered girl.

"Oh, such a pity, my boy. It was really great," Slughorn mumbled, disappointed.

His words infuriated Tom even more. He glanced back at Maia who was busy finishing her potion. 'You will pay me, I swear,' he thought, grimacing.

Before the class ended, Slughorn inspected their work once. Maia succeeded to finish her potion, the only one in class.

"That's great, my girl!" Slughorn said excitedly. His words angered Tom. Gryffindors were mumbling. "I think that you really deserve something for working so hard in my classes," he said and smiled warmly, walking towards one of the cabinets whose door were ajar and retrieving two nice, small packages from it. Judging by the looks, those were boxes of chocolates.

"Thank you Professor," Maia said with a smile as he handed her one box. She was really starting to like Slughorn.

"And here is one for you Tom, boy." Slughorn spun around, handing the other one to Tom, who was already angry because he gave one to Maia. It wasn't because he was wanting chocolate so badly, actually he didn't care about sweets at all but because he wanted to be rewarded also.

"Thank you Sir. You really shouldn't have," Tom said. In fact, he was a bit glad; no one gave him something before.

"Why not? You always do great, never mind this small mistake today," he praised him again and Tom couldn't help but swell slightly with pride.

"Alright, all of you can go! Class dismissed!" Slughorn clapped once, dismissing them.

The rest of the classes passed without any incidents. Maia was doing her best to ignore Tom and he did the same, just rarely glaring at her furiously. After their classes finished Maia went to the library with Lucy. She took a really big pile of books and placed it on their table. She was grateful to Lucy, because she was the only one that didn't try to persuade her to give up. Well, she and Dolohov. She took a book called **"Curses and Counter-curses"** and opened it. She flipped through a couple of pages and started reading about the Stupefy spell. It was a bit harder than the others but she hoped that she would manage to master it, although her chances weren't big.

"Can I tell you something, but promise me that you won't be angry at me?" Lucy breathed, interrupting her, anxiety written in her voice.

Maia raised her head and looked at Lucy, her gray eyes narrowed. She hated being interrupted, but she didn't say anything because Lucy's anxiety was clearly obvious; she was pulling on her hair and biting her lips.

"I can assume what you want to say but you are free to speak. I won't be angry," Maia said airily, "I promise."

"You shouldn't go," Lucy stammered earning a cold glare from Maia. "I don't say this because I want you to reconcile with him, it's not my business. I say this because I think, no, I know that something bad will happen to you," she explained, tilting her head slightly to the side.

Maia raised an eyebrow, rolling her eyes at Lucy as a smile crossed her lips. "How can you know that, Lucy?"

"Well, the women from my family were specialized in Divinations and I inherited their talent. I can see things, sometimes. Predict them, see them before they happen, you know," she said, feeling a bit uneasy under Maia's interrogating gaze.

"What did you saw?" Maia asked out of curiosity, not because she believed in Divinations.

"I can't explain because I don't know what exactly. I saw you and I saw the blood," Lucy said softly, biting her lip.

"The blood?" Maia's blunt voice cut through the silence. "What else?"

"Yes, the blood, just a few drops. I also saw you, trembling, like you have a fever, nothing else. I don't even know what this means," she said shyly, lowering her blue eyes.

Maia reached out to take her hand. "Look, Lucy. I don't want to offend you. I really appreciate that you said this to me," she said in a low, soothing voice. "But… I don't believe in prophecies and similar things, they are rarely fulfilled. You don't need to torment yourself with that. Maybe what you saw isn't really connected with this situation." Maia's attention returned to her book. Lucy sighed halfheartedly.

* * *

A couple of weeks passed after their conversation in the library and Halloween came really fast. All the students were excited because of the upcoming feast, speaking about it during all the classes. Third years and older students went to Hogsmeade.

"I wish we could go to Hogsmeade. I never went there before," Malfoy said.

"Me neither," Maia said absent-mindedly, her eyes fixated upon the parchment she held. She was sitting on the carpet finishing her and Malfoy's Transfigurations homework.

"Would you consi…." Malfoy started but Maia interrupted him harshly, "No, and no."

"Lucy told me about her vision," Malfoy said after a moment of thinking, staring at the floor.

"Do you really believe in that?" Maia chuckled.

"I don't know but it would be smart to heed her advice," Malfoy urged but Maia ignored him; she would never act like a coward. If she wouldn't appear, it would be her shame and Tom would surely mock her for eternity because of that. She wouldn't allow it.

Malfoy's head tilted towards the old clock. "The feast will begin in a couple of minutes, I will go now," he said slowly, looking at her once more.

"Have a good time," Maia said flatly, her eyes meeting his briefly.

"And you take care," he smiled at her before he left.

Maia rushed to finish the homework quickly, her hand almost flying across the parchment she held, afraid that she would be late. After she was done with it she neatly folded the parchments and left them lying on the table along with her quill before she stormed out of the common room. Judging by the noises she heard while passing near the Great Hall it seemed that the feast had already begun.

'_Good, all the students and the Professors will be occupied for a while so no one will spot us,' _she thought. She began climbing up the stairs quickly, occasionally looking behind, afraid that maybe someone decided to skip the feast and that she would be noticed. It took her a while, but she made it to the fourth floor, seemingly unnoticed. She walked down the corridor, her light eyes looking left and right, trying to spot even the slightest movement but it was completely empty, and dark. Her hand quickly went towards her pocket, clasping the dark wand in her hands firmly; her knuckles turned white.

"So you came. Interesting, I was almost completely sure that you wouldn't," the cold, mocking voice rung out from somewhere behind her. Maia's eyes narrowed as she swung towards the source of the noise. In the darkness she managed to spot just an outline of the person, pitch-black eyes glaring at her mockingly. It seemed that he wasn't holding his wand; he wouldn't attack her, at least not immediately.

"I gave my word that I will," she replied, trying to keep her voice icy and calm and straightening her back.

"That's good and I appreciate that," he said slowly, trailing his words. Maia raised an eyebrow, surprised by the amount of sincerity in his voice. Despite she wasn't willing to believe in those words, he wasn't lying. He couldn't stand her presence, the sound of her voice, the way she spoke and behaved, everything yet he held a certain dose of respect for her. She was intelligent, Pureblood, the kind of people he deemed worthy. "Follow me," he said, turning on his heel, slowly walking towards the other side of the hallway.

"Where?" she asked cautiously, her brow creasing into a frown as she glared at Tom.

"What did you think; that we would duel in the middle of the corridor?" Tom sneered, approaching to one of the doors, opening them with one swift motion.

She followed him quietly, her eyes darting around as she entered the room. The room was large and the light was dim, unpleasant. A couple pieces of furniture were covered with thin, dusty white sheets and pushed near the wall, leaving a lot of free space in the middle.

"_**Colloportus!"**_ She heard his cold, high voice and flinched as she heard the sound of a door locking.

'_Great, now I'm locked here with him',_ she thought bitterly; that fact made her feel unpleasant.

"I never was in here before," Maia said to break the tormenting silence which she couldn't stand.

"I came to a conclusion that this is a storage room," he said flatly. He often would sneak out of the dungeons at night and roam around the school; this was just one of the rooms he found during his short stay here.

"I wonder what they keep stored in here," Maia asked, her curiosity making her forget why she came here in the first place.

"Nothing, just useless broken furniture, I already checked," he replied lazily. She tilted her head towards him, her light, shiny eyes locking with his dark ones. It seemed to her that some strange fire shone inside the abysmal depths of his eyes. It seemed like she hesitated to attack him first or mention the reason why they were here. There was something in him that made fear seep through her mind; despite she wasn't the person that gets scared so easily.

"Should we start?" he asked coldly, pulling out his wand, impatience laced in his voice.

"I think we should," she replied, trying not to sound meek as she raised her wand.

"Ladies first," Tom said, the note of poison obvious in his voice as he grinned at her.

It seemed to her like her brain froze for a moment, she couldn't remember any spell. She never was in a situation like this before and his wicked grin as he waited completely calmly couldn't help her to concentrate.

"_**Rictusempra!" **_she bellowed, it was the first spell that crossed her mind. Almost effortlessly he evaded the blinding light that rushed towards him, thanks to her trembling hand and bad aiming. Tom smiled, it was his turn now.

"_**Petrifikus Totalus!" **_His aim was much more precise and it seemed that the spell would reach its target.

"_**Protego!" **_She remembered the incantation a moment before the spell managed to hit her. It wasn't done properly and she couldn't make a proper shield, the force of the spell forced her to sway and hit her back against the wall. She tried to move her fingers and sighed with relief, she didn't remain immobile.

Under normal circumstances she would be proud that she managed to cast one of the more complicated spells, even if it wasn't completely correct. Now, the adrenaline surging through her veins made her forget about it.

"_**Impedimenta!" **_This time her hand wasn't shaking and she was determined not to gamble with this chance. Another beam of light flew towards him, managing to hit him. The spell managed to freeze him and she thought that she won, for a moment. The spell effect didn't last for more than a couple of seconds. Maia didn't manage to cast it properly.

"_**Evarte**_ _**State!" **_Tom bellowed, furious because of what happened the moment before. His spell hit her before she managed to react and the force of the impact sent her flying across the room, her head made a painful contact with the sturdy, old couch. She brushed one lock out of her silvery eyes; her head had been aching like someone hit her with a brick.

Tom walked around her, like a wolf surrounding it's prey; the situation amused him in some wicked way. He raised his wand, preparing to attack her, but she came to her senses quickly and shouted out, boiling with rage, _**"Stupefy!"**_

Just a couple of red sparks burst out from her wand, dissolving into nothingness before they managed to reach him; he smirked evilly and she stood up, moving away from him, her eyes widening in shock.

"_**Impedimenta!"**_

Another one of his spells managed to make contact with her body, tossing her against the wall this time, like she was a doll. She hit her back hardly.

"_**Locomotor Mortis!" **_He decided to use the opportunity and attack her one more time. In a last moment she managed to roll away and the ray of light hit the bare wall instead of her. Before he managed to raise his wand again she managed to raise up, her knees weak, and send another spell towards him.

They continued attacking each other but it seemed like each move they made was completely fruitless. Various rays of blue, red and white dashed across the room, some colliding with each other, making loud bangs and showering them both with sparkles, like some kind of firework. Occasionally they managed to hit each other, but the effects weren't long-lasting; they were frozen or thrown away for a couple of moments before they continued striking at each other.

Tom's last spell managed to hit Maia yet again and she fell on her knees, her body tired from all the physical effort; she gasped for breath. Tom wasn't less tired than she was just he was in the one in control, he would never allow her to notice that he is tired.

Without even trying to stand up she aimed again, infuriated, without paying attention where she was pointing her wand; her mind was dazed with rage.

"_**Evarte**_ _**State!"**_ The spell, fueled by her fury, hit Tom and this time he was the one that was thrown away, colliding with the old rusty cabinet. He regained his posture quickly but not in time to cast another spell first.

"_**Serpensortia!"**_ She waved her wand, conjuring a snake which fell on the floor and hissed maliciously.

"_Attack him!" _Maia ordered in Parseltongue. As the snake began gliding towards him she realized that she made a mistake, maybe the biggest one until now. Conjuring a snake would be a smart move if her opponent was someone else. Conjuring a snake when her opponent was a Parselmouth was the dumbest thing she could have done, something that even a five year old child wouldn't do.

Tom couldn't suppress his laughter when he saw the snake. Really, did she think about her acts? "_No, attack her," _he hissed softly and the viper changed its route, quickly approaching Maia.

"_Attack him!"_ she ordered again, setting her teeth. The snake turned back to him, again.

"_Attack her!"_

They continued with this dangerous game for a while. The snake continued changing its route, according to their order. Her movements resembled those of a clock hand, just the snake had been faster. After a few minutes Maia realized that the snake was getting closer to her after each turn. She frowned, worried.

"_Attack him,"_ she muttered; nothing happened. "_Go away!"_ she hissed, panic growing in her chest. The snake was now in front of her, just an inch away and she couldn't make it step back. Tom controlled it now.

"Are you afraid?" Tom asked coldly, crossing his arms over his chest, his left lip curled into a mocking smile.

"No!" Maia lied. Her intestines twisted in fear, her heart began beating faster but she wouldn't admit her fear, not to him.

"Do you want me to remove it?" he asked; his voice became slightly softer.

She swallowed deeply and nodded hastily.

"I will, you just have to ask nicely," he said slyly, enjoying in his control over her.

She bit her lip, eyes lowering to her knees. "Could you remove i-it?" she stammered, cursing herself inwardly. He remained silent, ignoring her words. "Please, Tom?" Maia whispered, hands clenching into fists as she felt her heart hammer away in what felt like the base of her throat.

He grinned, his eyes shimmering sadistically. "You are not persuasive, not enough," he mocked her.

"Then what should I do!?" she blurted out, the fury replacing the fear in her chest for a while.

"Beg me," he said softly, poisonously.

Those words stoked the fury in her chest. "Never!" Maia snarled.

Tom's grin widened, "_Move a bit closer."_ The snake obeyed his words and glided forward. She stopped when she touched her shoes.

"Now?" Tom asked; his voice strained. Why did she disobey?

She remained silent; the fear locked her tongue again. She wanted to run away, but her mind reminded her that any kind of movement would intimidate the snake and push her into danger.

"_Climb up her leg_," he ordered, his voice almost cracked as he tried to suppress his laughter. The snake began climbing up her legs, twisting around her shins. Maia could feel her cold scales on her warm skin. She never was afraid of snakes, she could control them, pet them but this situation was different. She wasn't in control and the snake could bite her every moment. She didn't understand how he managed to do it; she never failed to control them before, what made his control stronger? Why the snake decided to listen to him?

"It can bite you, you know," Tom's cold, lazy voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I would rather be bitten by thousand snakes than beg you. I never beg, pleading for mercy belongs to weak ones," she said, gathering her courage. She was a Black and they never beg for mercy, even if they would die. That's the way she was raised. She wouldn't disgrace her family, never.

Tom watched her calmly, hiding his surprise. He couldn't deny the admiration he felt at that moment. Here she was, completely fearless yet knew very well that he could make this snake bite her, whenever he wanted. He couldn't break her will like he could do with the others; she wasn't weak or pathetic, now he realized that. He couldn't humiliate her; she had pride just like he had.

"Is that your last decision?" he asked, looking at her light eyes.

"Yes, it is," she said, lowering her gaze but trying to control her voice. '_I'm dead. So, so dead,' _she thought, utterly panicked, expecting the bite every moment.

Because Maia was caught in her morose thoughts she didn't hear his next words.

"_Draw back." _

Maia's eyes widened in surprise as she felt the snake sliding down, thrashing back on the floor and slithering away.

"Why did you do that?" Maia's eyebrows lifted a fraction. Was he toying with her?

"Are you sorry because I did it? If you are, I can easily send it back to you," he replied calmly, a slightly amused look in his eyes.

"No," she rushed to say and he smirked. "I'm just surprised, that's all," she added softly.

"Shall we go now?" Tom suggested.

"Go?" she repeated carefully.

"Yes," he replied, and looked up at the ceiling. "Your courage saved you. For a moment I thought that you will act like a disgusting sniveling brat and start crying and begging for mercy like those Muggles from the orphanage," he added, lowering his head to look at her eyes.

"Still angry at me?" she asked, a soft smile appeared on her lips.

He smirked, wondering how she could so easily forgot that he threatened her. "I'm less angry now. At least I managed to beat you." She wrinkled her nose but remained silent. "Come on," he approached the door, touching the lock with his wand. "_**Alohomora!"**_

Maia shook her head slightly before she moved towards the door. After a couple of steps she stepped on something soft. Sighing nervously, she bowed to see on what she stepped. The next moment she felt a sharp pain shooting down her right leg. "Ouch!" Maia yelped.

"What happened now?" Tom asked impatiently, turning towards her. For a moment he just watched at her before he exclaimed, startled, "You stepped on the snake!"

Her gaze shifted towards her leg. Maia notices two small bite marks and drops of blood spilled across her milky white skin. "Dammit," she muttered, clenching her eyes shut.

* * *

**A/N:** I don't know why it took me so long to edit this chapter but I finally have a free day so I finished it. Geez, I hope you won't kill me for delaying the updates. I will try to finish the next one sooner.


	6. The Poison

_**The Poison**_

"Are you okay?" Tom asked her, wondering how she managed to do something so stupid. He made a step forward.

As soon as she noticed it, Maia hissed through her clenched teeth. "Don't approach me. Stay away from me!"

Tom arched an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Why?" A couple of moments before she acted like they never argued; now, she behaved like he tried to attack her again.

"This is your goddamn fault!" she raised her voice, adding a poisonous note to it.

"Mine?" Tom's insides flared up with anger as he looked at Maia. "Do I need to remind you that it was your brilliant idea to summon this snake? And why didn't you watch where were you stepping?" he scolded her like she was a disobedient child.

"You ordered her to bite me!" she growled, running a hand through her messy hair. She moved her leg, watching with a long sigh as the snake slithered away and disappeared under one of the old sofas.

She frowned and gasped aloud as she felt a strange, unfamiliar pain running through her leg. Maia felt like someone was lightly stabbing her leg with a thousand of tiny, yet very sharp needles; she swayed like a tree in the wind. Her quivering leg, weakened by the pain, gave out on her and she collapsed to her knees on the cold floor.

Tom silently stood in the middle of the room, doing nothing as she knelt there on the floor. "No, I didn't," he told the truth sharply as he took another, more hesitant step towards her. "If that snake is a poisonous one you will surely need an antidote. That means that you would need to go to the Hospital Wing," he murmured, his voice strained. In that case, her stupidity would create a problem for him. He was completely sure that she would tell the truth to the professors.

Maia shook her head slightly. "I think it's not. I don't feel dizzy, or anything similar to it. It just hurts. I guess it's normal," she said wearily. She slowly tried to rise up but her weakened leg betrayed her again and she was forced to return to the previous position. She huffed in annoyance, it really hurt a lot.

Tom's eyes were still fixated upon her; he was carefully observing her efforts to return back on her feet. He was supposed to go over there and help her, every normal human being would do that, and he knew it. Despite that, he hesitated. He wasn't exactly a person that would be comfortable with helping other people; he would rather harm someone than offer his help. He stood there, the battle which took place inside his mind invisible to Maia. As he threw another look at her, he decided that maybe he should help her to rise up. It would be better to help her than leave her alone in this room; he supposed that she would start screaming for help and of course, unleash the chaos if he just turned his back and left. So, after a few minutes of hesitation he offered his hand to Maia.

Maia's eyes widened in disbelief. Why would Tom want to help her? Wasn't he the one threatening her just a couple of minutes ago? It just wasn't logical.

Tom stared rather strangely at her, a soft frown creasing his dark brow. What was she thinking about? He offered her help and yet she sat there, hesitating and looking at him like he was going to attack her at any moment. That's what he gained when he tried to be nice; he should have just left her here. "Fine, stay sitting here as much as you want," he said, drawing back his hand; anger latched in his voice.

Maia bit her lip nervously when he moved his hand. She realized that she needed his help, she couldn't do it alone. Her only choice was to trust him. "Okay, I will accept your help," she said hastily, adding a silent, "Sorry." She raised her hand, glaring at his dark eyes in worried expectation. A stone seemed to crash from her heart and vanish as he grabbed it, a bit roughly pulling her on her feet. She gripped his cold hand firmly, afraid that she would fall.

"Can you stand and walk without my help?" he asked hoarsely. He didn't want to drag her all the way back to the common room.

Maia lowered her gaze to her knees; she also didn't want his help, she hated the fact that she was helpless, even for a while. She tried to move her leg; it hurt her less now, but she still felt like someone had pricked her leg.

"I think I can," she muttered. "Thank you," she added. There was a tiny, forced smile on her face as she looked back at him.

Tom released her hand quickly, like she was infested with scabies. He wondered how she could smile when she was bitten; she really was a strange person.

"Let's go," he said, leaving the room. His words sounded more like an order. Maia merely sighed, following him as quickly as she could, despite it wasn't an easy task for her. Tom couldn't help but sneer when he saw how she was limping. It was somehow comical.

"I think it would be easier for me to just roll all the way down," she muttered, her chin quivering as they reached the staircase.

"If you want, I would be glad to push you," he snickered, amused by the worry in her voice.

She tilted her head to the side, facing him. "No, thanks, I think that I will choose the hard way," she said, her previous fake smile dissolving into a genuine grin.

Just like she thought, descending down the stairs wasn't an easy task. Her leg threatened to betray her again. Halfway down the last staircase, her legs swayed dangerously and she would have surely plummeted down the stairs if Tom didn't manage to grab her wrist. She threw him a weird look, almost forgetting to say thanks. She really couldn't understand him. Before half an hour, he was willing to harm her, now he decided to help her. It was more of an instinctive act, than his own will; he really didn't care was she safe or not. The only thing he cared about at that moment was arrival to the common room without being noticed.

Somehow, she managed to get down the stairs without making any problems. Tom was annoyed by the fact that she was slower than a snail. As he glanced at her, a new thought occupied his mind. He wanted to ask her something so badly, but he was reluctant to do it; he didn't want her to sneer at his ignorance and lack of knowledge about the world of wizards. A couple of moments later, his curiosity finally won over the other arguments.

"How some wizards become Parselmouths and the others don't? Is it something you learn to be or are you born with such a gift?" he breathed, hoping that she knew something about it.

"I think it can't be learned, it's something you are born with," she replied, rubbing at her temples; it seemed that she would gain a headache.

Tom remained silent; this wasn't something that would confirm his doubts about his father. He didn't need to have a magical ancestry if he could speak with snakes? Or he did? His eyebrows creased with anger. Maia threw him a compassionate look. Luckily for her, he failed to notice it. If he did, another argument would ensue because the compassion was something he didn't want, it was something he despised.

"It is something that you inherit," she stated and he threw her a suspicious look. Was she telling the truth? "Someone from your family must have been a wizard or a witch who had the ability to speak Parseltongue, or else you couldn't," she explained in a gentle, yet serious voice.

Tom couldn't suppress the smile that spread across his lips. So his father really was a wizard, he only needed to discover who he was. He needed more proofs to be completely sure that his theory was true. He never thought about his mother, she couldn't have been a witch; she wouldn't be dead if she had magic.

"Who is a Parseltongue in your family?" he asked as she followed him, walking like a drunkard. Yet again he needed to suppress his laughter.

"My great-great-grandmother was the only one. She was a witch from Germany. That's why I turned out to be one, but my sisters, father, or grandfather weren't because it is very rare, even to inherit. Only the ones whose whole family can speak Parseltongue need to be born with that ability," she explained, despite the tiredness she felt. Speaking helped her to stay focused and fight with the strange dizziness inside her head.

"That is really interesting. Is there any completely Parseltongue family in the world?" he asked, his hunger for the knowledge clearly visible in his voice.

"No, not anymore," she lowered her gray eyes as she spoke. "There was only one family. Family of Salazar Slytherin."

Tom looked at her; the way she pronounced that man's name indicated that she held a great deal of awe and respect for him. "What happened to them?"

"They are extinct," she said witheringly. "Through the years, the number of Mudbloods in this world increased and the number of the true wizards decreased. Slytherin's family was one of those that would rather die than stain their blood with the mud-like, unworthy one. First, they became extinct in the male line, later they completely vanished, like the majority of the Pureblood families. The Black family, the Malfoy family, the Lestrange family and the Rosier family are one of the few that managed to survive through the years. Some Purebloods families are spitting on their own names by associating with Mudbloods. The bloody blood-traitors, they should be all killed," she hissed, her voice laced with sadness and hate.

Tom listened to her quietly. He hated the fact that he shared her opinion when it came to something. She was right indeed, the Muggles were disgusting; the Mudbloods seemed to be even worse. How could the wizards stoop so low and mix with them?

They continued walking towards the common room, both occupied with their thoughts. As they entered the common room two worried pairs of eyes greeted them.

"There you are!" Malfoy exclaimed, frowning slightly. "We were wondering what took you so long. The feast finished half an hour ago."

Tom sat in the armchair casually, before he turned his attention towards Malfoy, "It's her fault," he replied coldly.

"Mine?" Maia hissed, sinking into the sofa. "I would like to see how fast you would walk if something like that happened to you."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, he didn't understand about what she was talking. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied ironically, pointing at the two small, red bite-marks nicely visible on her white skin. "I just got a small trophy."

Malfoy's gaze shifted from Maia to Tom; he was dumbfounded. "Hells, Tom, I know that you are very pale, but I didn't know that you were a vampire."

Roderick and Maia glanced at each other before they burst into the very loud laughter. Tom couldn't help but laugh too, despite he was angered by Malfoy's stupidity.

"You are a saphead, this is a snake bite. And just to inform you, vampires don't bite someone in the leg, they aim for the neck instead," Roderick explained, his voice still shaking with laughter.

Malfoy began to feel uncomfortable, lowering his gaze to his knees. "Sorry," he murmured, glancing at Tom.

"Where the hell did you find a snake?" Malfoy asked, realizing that this story was somehow strange.

"She conjured it from her wand and then she stepped on it," Tom said, his voice cracking with laughter again.

"Ha, ha, ha, really funny," Maia retorted, angrily tugging on her red locks.

"That's one really unusual situation," Roderick stated. Maia confirmed with a brief nod.

"What if it was a poisonous snake?" Malfoy asked, scratching his blonde head worriedly.

She shook her head. "No, it wasn't," Maia replied, completely sure in her words.

Trusting in her judgment, Malfoy decided to forget about it. "Are you two still enemies?" he asked them, clearly curious.

Maia looked at Tom warily. "I don't think we are," she said, hoping that it wasn't a wrong conclusion.

"Not at this moment, but we will be if you again do something inappropriate," he said, smiling softly, although his words sounded like a warning.

"Just write a list of things that I shouldn't do and give it to me," she replied in a mocking voice.

"I'm afraid I would run out of ink if I started to write that list," he said, smirking. She still annoyed him, but her act of bravery raised the amount of respect he held for Maia, so he decided not to yell at her now.

"That is really great," Malfoy said happily. He never liked the growing hostility between them.

Maia nodded briefly and yawned, doing her best to cover her mouth. She was feeling sleepy and had a hard time to keep her eyes open. She lay down, lifting her legs up and resting her head against one green, velvet pillow.

"You're going to sleep here?" Roderick asked, his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Yes, I somehow don't want to go to the dormitory, I'm tired," she murmured hoarsely, punctuating her words with another yawn. She never felt so sleepy in her entire life, her eyes stubbornly refused to remain open. She quickly fell asleep despite Malfoy, Tom and Roderick were still talking loudly; her dazed mind ignored all the sounds around her. Tom glanced at her coldly, wondering if her sudden sleepiness had something to do with that snake.

* * *

The next morning, Lucy was the first one to enter the common room. She was surprised when she saw Maia sprawled across the couch, her right hand almost touching the carpet. She came to a conclusion that she probably fell asleep while reading. Her bright eyes scanned the surroundings, widening in surprise when she didn't notice any book next to Maia. Why was she sleeping here then? "Wake up!" she said, approaching the couch. Maia didn't react and Lucy huffed in annoyance. It was really hard to wake up that girl.

"Come on, you will be late for breakfast," she exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders. A moment later Lucy realized that she didn't move again; she started to feel nervous.

"Please, wake up!" she began shaking her harshly, hoping that this time she would succeed.

"What's happening here?" Roderick entered in the common room, glaring at Lucy.

"I can't wake her up," she wailed, pointing at Maia with her small finger.

"How?" he wondered, tilting his head to the left.

"I don't know!" Lucy shrugged.

Rodrick chuckled. "She is just being lazy, like always," he stated, approaching her. He grabbed Maia's arms, roughly lifting her up, forcing her to sit.

"Hey wake up, you sluggard!"

Maia began to open up her eyes slowly, reacting as he shook her. His voice seemed weak to her, like it came from a big distance.

"Let me sleep," she whispered, opening her gray eyes completely. She barely recognized Roderick's features, which were somehow shadowy.

"It's late, you need to stand up," Roderick said firmly, still clenching her arms. Maia completely ignored him, her gaze shifting in and out of focus.

"Are you okay?" he asked her seriously, noticing the strange look in her eyes; the whites of her eyes were slightly reddish.

She rubbed at her temples, waiting until her vision got slightly better. "Yes I'm," she muttered hoarsely, "I don't know what happened to me."

"You didn't eat for a long time," Lucy said worriedly. Maia definitely wasn't the person that ate well; if the others weren't eating, Lucy was sure that Maia would forget that she should eat too.

"Yes, that must be it," Maia admitted; the last night duel exhausted her and her stomach was churning.

"Let's go upstairs, you should change that wrinkled uniform," Lucy stated, taking her hand when Roderick released Maia's arms, almost forcing her to walk. Maia obeyed silently, frowning. Her leg wasn't aching anymore, but it was somehow numb and she barely could move it.

When she managed to change her clothes, Maia accompanied Lucy to the Great Hall. The rest of the Slytherins were already there. "Will you help me with my potion today?" Malfoy asked as Maia sat next to him, his voice filled with hope. She nodded slightly.

"I hope that you won't mess up my potion like yesterday," Tom, who sat across her, said coldly.

She watched her plate silently, which Lucy already filled with eggs and bacon; her mind again ignored the voices around her.

"What happened with you? Cat got your tongue?" Tom mocked her.

"What?" she asked absent-mindedly; her mind was swirling.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you today?" Roderick asked, frowning at her. She shrugged her shoulders, picking her fork.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked curiously.

"Lucy and I barely succeeded to wake her up this morning," Roderick explained before he looked at Maia again. "You still look drowsy," he stated.

"I want to sleep," Maia held back a yawn.

"Then go to sleep, you won't lose much if you skip the classes today," Malfoy said; he wasn't the person which would be worried if he would miss some classes.

"I can't do that, we have some new lessons today," she replied, chasing a piece of bacon in her plate, trying to stab it.

They continued eating in silence, until something weird happened. One student rose up from the Gryffindor table and approached to the Slytherins. They immediately recognized him, it was Moody and he looked angry.

"How can we help you?" Roderick asked him, hostility in his voice. Apparently, he was another Gryffindor-hater. "Must be something important, because you, Gryffindors rarely approach us, Slytherins."

Moody looked at him, after a while deciding to ignore his words. It wasn't his intention to argue with someone who did nothing to him.

"I went to the Hospital Wing yesterday because my sneezing got worse. The Matron said that I was cursed, and I suspect that you did this," he stated, glaring at Maia angrily.

"I-I," her words were slurred; she couldn't force herself to talk.

"Don't you have anything to say? I expected a more witty response from you," he retorted. She decided to act like an innocent one, and he hated it. He couldn't stand any kind of lies.

She remained silent, staring at him blankly.

"I don't know what kind of game you are playing, Ophidian, but…."

"Leave her alone!" a cold, sharp voice cut him off; a pair of black eyes looked at him angrily.

Maia raised her head slowly, her eyebrows rising in disbelief.

"What did you say?" Moody asked. He seemed to be surprised too. He didn't think that a boy, who was one of the few Slytherins that never took part in the insults Maia and Abraxas occasionally hurled at the Gryffindors, would defend her.

"I said, leave her alone. Are you deaf or you are too dumb to understand such a simple sentence?" Tom's voice was low, and his eyes narrowed.

Maia was really startled, like the rest of her housemates. Of all the people, Tom was the one that defended her. Nothing could be weirder than that.

"Yes, go away, before I curse you!" Malfoy butt in arrogantly, waving his wand. He was encouraged by Tom's words.

"Is there any problem here, children?" Professor Merrythought asked, approaching the table slowly, her soft eyes glaring at them.

"No, Professor. Moody just came to ask us something about the lessons," Tom lied calmly. "He is going now." She nodded, smiling as she went away.

"Next time you won't get away so easily," Moody said before he spun around and went back to his table. He despised the sneaky ones. If she had something against him, she should have challenged him openly. Anything else was indecent.

"Thank you Tom. I really didn't expect this," Maia said honestly, and threw him a thankful look before she looked at Malfoy. "Thank you, Abraxas. I didn't know you are so brave."

Malfoy smiled contentedly. "This is nothing, just a bluff. I thought it would scare him. If he hurled a curse at me, I would certainly run away screaming." Everybody chuckled at his confession, including Maia.

"I did this because I don't think that he has the right to maltreat any of us. Besides, I can see that you are not feeling well," Tom said and she smiled to him softly. Tom couldn't stand the fact that one Gryffindor, someone who had befriended Mudbloods dared to offend someone who was a true wizard.

The rest of the breakfast was incidents-free. Sadly, the classes were completely different. In the Potions class, Maia managed to make her cauldron explode, covering Nott's face with the hot liquid. Slughorn's eyes widened at the sight; he couldn't believe that his brilliant girl had made such a big mistake. Later that day, in the Charms class, when they were practicing the Hovering charm, instead of making her feather hover, she set it on fire. Maia was completely infuriated.

During the dinner that night, Malfoy asked Tom worriedly, "Did you hit her with the Brain jinx?"

"No. Why?" Tom replied calmly.

"She is really weird," Malfoy stated before he threw a look at Maia. Dolohov was telling her how he got detention with Filch. She just nodded absent-mindedly; she obviously wasn't listening. "She's acting like she's drunk."

"Maybe she is just tired. After all, she is studying constantly, without a break. It seems to me that she is trying to finish her education in just one year." Roderick said.

"Maybe," Malfoy agreed. "Studying was never good," he muttered, switching his attention to his plate.

Tom looked at her; her head was rested upon her palm, her eyes were closed. She definitely wasn't looking well. Tom began thinking about the last night again. Was that snake really poisonous? Poison was the only thing that could explain her drowsiness. She never acted like that; she was a very vivacious person. '_No',_ he thought, '_if she was poisoned, she would have felt bad immediately, not after a whole day passed.'_

Maia tried to listen to Dolohov, but her head was threatening to fall into her plate, so she decided to go to sleep before she embarrassed herself more than she already did today. "I'm sorry Nicolas, but I really need to go to sleep now. You will tell me the complete story tomorrow." She rose from the table, without waiting for his reply, and headed towards the common room. Her legs were weaker than they were before and she had the feeling that she wouldn't manage to reach her dormitory. Somehow, she managed to reach the dormitory and she plopped onto her bed.

"Why am I feeling this strange weakness? I'm so sleepy, I feel like I'm floating away," she mumbled, yawning. She felt weak, but that weakness didn't bother her anymore. It was pleasant, in some morbid way. She didn't fight against this paralyzing feeling anymore; she allowed it to carry her down into sleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Here is another update, finally. I will begin working on the next chapters soon. I'm glad I got a couple of favorites and a bunch of reviews since I updated the last time. You really made me happy! I hope you will enjoy this one. If you want, review, it encourages me to work faster!


End file.
